


Spider-Man: Avengers (and Midtown High) React

by gayplums



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Avengers react, Avengers watch their movies, Canon-Typical Violence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Flash Thompson Bullies Peter Parker, Flash Thompson Redemption, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Humor, Identity Reveal, Light Angst, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker is a Mess, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Post-Spider-Man: Homecoming, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Avengers, Protective Tony Stark, Spider-Man Identity Reveal, Spider-Man: Homecoming - Freeform, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, avengers watch scenes from spiderman:homecoming, avengers watch spider-man: homecoming, avengers watch the movies, i might project my slight dislike for team cap in this, watching the movies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-09
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2020-08-13 13:56:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 72,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20175406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gayplums/pseuds/gayplums
Summary: THE WRITING STYLE FOR THE MOVIE PARAGRAPH WILL BE DIFFERENT FROM MY ACTUAL WRITING STYLE TO MAKE SURE THIS DOESNT GET TAKEN DOWN, thank you :)The Avengers and Peter Parker's school are transported to a theater room, they are forced to watch a movie about a certain web-slinging superhero...(I do not have an update schedule! I update at random, I'm sorry :/ )this is a fanfic i have been wanting to read (i love avengers watch spider man homecoming fanfics) but i couldnt find much so i just wrote my own!to make sure marvel doesnt sue me, Spider-Man: Homecoming is not mine, i do not own it nor did i write it!Warning: swearing, canon violence





	1. “Business is good.”

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [way to go](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13843422) by [GeekyIdiotCas](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GeekyIdiotCas/pseuds/GeekyIdiotCas). 
  * Inspired by [Avengers Watch Snippets](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18635905) by [Ifihadatardis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ifihadatardis/pseuds/Ifihadatardis). 

> i really hope you like this, it takes a while to write this stuff as my computer and other electronic device(s) apparently hate writing this :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I havent seen a fic where the avengers AND peters class watched hoco so i decided "why dont I make that fic?"

Tony was in his workshop when everything went white and he passed out. He woke up to the sound of confused and angry voices, he slowly shook his head and sat up. He saw Steve, Sam, Clint, Natasha, and Nick Fury himself arguing, quietly behind the group stands Bucky. He groaned in annoyance, making his consciousness known to the team.

He stands up and took a look around the room: there were hundreds of people unconscious, most of them were students; among the sea of people was Peter Parker and May Parker. 

He furrows his eyebrows in confusion, “Why are there a bunch of middle-schoolers and their teachers?” He asked the team, hoping they might have some answers. Their answering faces prove otherwise. 

“We don’t know - yet.” Sam answers, and Tony sighs in disappointment, running a hand through his hair.

He hears movement behind him and turns to see Peter waking up, he walks towards the teen to help him up, “Mornin’, Pete, how’s your back?”

“Mr. Stark?” Peter grumbles sleepily, rubbing his eyes like a sleepy puppy. Tony stands next to him and extends an arm, Peter takes it and is lifted up. Peter looks to the Rogue Avengers and gets a look of awe on his face. He, like Tony, looks around and finally sees his classmates on the ground, “Shouldn’t we wake them? Wait, where are we?”

Steve shrugs.

They spread out throughout the gym-sized-times-two room, before they find a note that says: “Everything will start once everyone is awake.”

Flash awakens after a few hundred others, students and teachers alike, “Holy shit it’s the avengers…”

-

Once everyone is awake they hear a male voice, “Hi, welcome to Bible study, we're all children of Jesus.”

There are mumbles of confusion at that. Though, a few brave students yell, "Kumbaya, my lord!" Much to the confusion of everyone who doesn't get the reference.

“You may call me, Author. This is a pocket dimension, where you will watch a movie.”

“You brought us here to watch a movie?” Natasha asks incredulously, before anyone else, there are mumbles of agreement.

“Yes.” Author says. Natasha shakes her head. “The movie and what is shown in it has already happened.” 

“Then why are we here?” Bruce asked.

“I just wanted to show you this movie.”

The Avengers look at each other with confused looks. “If it already happened, what’s the point in showing us this?” Clint asked.

“Why not? I somehow acquired the power to create a pocket dimension and by the power of being an author I decided to do this. Have a seat.”

“I don’t think I will.” Steve stubbornly said. Author snorted.

“And if we don’t?” Fury tests, he and the other Avengers - including Peter - tense up, preparing for a fight. 

“Then don't sit, stand if you want, I don’t care.”

Everyone takes a seat. The walls were a deep sangria red, the room honestly looked like a movie theatre, except there were no doors. That is definitely a safety hazard, what if MJ roasted Flash too hard and he caught fire?

Tony and the Avengers sat in the first row, teachers in the second. Flash sat with the teachers, after a bunch of kids rushed and pushed to sit with the Avengers. Peter and Ned sat in the third row, while the hundreds of students sat in any empty chair they could find.

“Hey, what movie are we gonna watch?” Peter asks, looking at the ceiling.

“Spider-Man: Homecoming.”

The students and teachers yell and cheer, while Peter is frozen.

**Adrian Toomes and his coworker, Phineas Mason, were studying a child's drawing of the Avengers. Toomes comments on how things are never gonna be the same, mentions the aliens in the recent attack on New York and the Hulk. "When I was a kid, I used to draw cowboys and Indians."** ****

“Dad!?” Liz yells in shock, the girl was a few seats behind Peter, there were gasps as most if not all of the people present know who Adrian Toomes is and what he did.

“Oh my god, that’s your dad.” Betty says, rubbing Liz’ shoulder in comfort. 

“What’s your dad doing in the movie? I thought we were watching Spider-Man?” 

“Isn’t the Vulture Spider-Man's enemy?”

“Yeah, the Vulture is her dad right?” 

Liz sniffs, looking down, “Yeah…”

****  
**“Actually, it's Native American, but whatever.”** ****  
****  
**“Yeah." Toomes squinted at the drawing, then compliments the work. ****Mason nodded, then replied with how he believed the kid had a future.**

**** **Toomes scoffed in disbelief and looked up at the damaged Avengers Tower, saying, "We'll see about that." Helicopters passed overhead, scaffolding covers the tower's lower floors. **

The Avengers wince at the screen, the damage they and the Chitauri did bringing back guilt they barely managed to bury.

“Holy shit.” Charles says.

”Woah…”

“Is it weird that it still looks beautiful?”

“A lil’ bit, yeah.” The students friend snickers.

The Avengers that were there during the invasion wince again; looking down, they remember how it seemed hopeless, and then the nuke was sent to nuke New York and Tony sacrificed himself by flying into a wormhole to save the state. He’s lucky he’s alive.

**Walking through the site, Toomes gave a worker a thumbs up. He turned to Herman Schultz, who was one of his workers, and yelled about how the creatures were tough, and that you had to utilize their own tools. ** **He picked up an alien object from the ground and used it as a tool to break down the Chitauri chariot.**

**  
**“Huh.” Tony, Bruce, and the science students say.

“So that’s how they got that stuff…” Peter whispers, looking intently at the large screen.

Due to the fact that he can’t whisper properly to save his life, some of the surrounding students heard him and looked at him with confusion.

****   
**Schultz nodded. ** **Toomes turned to Brice, greeting the man who only ans** **wered in a laid back/bored tone, saying that his alarm didn't go off.** ****

Scoffs arise from the crowd. “An excuse as old as time.” Mr. Harrington says.

“Tales as old as rhyme.” Is whispered by one of his students.

**** ****   
**Toomes responded sarcastically, but was interrupted by Anne Marie Hoag, the director of the Department of Damage Control, who walked into the salvage site with her crew. ** **Anne Marie Hoag yelled, “Attention, please! In accordance with Executive Order 396B," She continued talking about the new order that a** **ll post-battle cleanups will be under their leadership.**

  
**Toomes asked the woman who she was, a bit offput by her sudden appearance.**

**A DODC Agent answered in a cocky tone about how they were qualified.**

Flash and even Clint laugh at that, while some others quietly do so. “Always gotta assert dominance, huh?”

****  
** Toomes told the woman that he had a city contract, but is interrupted ** ****  
****  
**Anne Marie Hoag, ever the professional it seemed, interrupted him. All cleanup operations was now their job, and they had to hand over all exotic materials or there would be consequences **  
****  
**The workers looked puzzled. A worker slipped an alien artifact that looked like a power source into his pocket unnoticed.** ****

“Oh no.” A student muttered, other students nodded.

Peter grimaces.

**   
** **Toomes pleaded with the woman, but she could only apologize, and tell the man that there was nothing she could do.**

“Oof.” A student frowns.

“That sucks.” Their friend agrees.

“Hey didn’t he try to kill Spider-Man?” The two students friend joins inz

“I take it back.” The first student takes back what they said, they’re a fan of Spider-Man.

“It still sucks though.” The second student says.

“Yeah it does.” Three students conversed.

**  
** **Toomes was left to stare at her back as she leaves. Behind him, a Damage Control Agent speaks up. The DODC Agent - a dick it seemed - said, “Maybe next time, don't overextend yourself.”**

“Assholes.” Peter hears someone in the crowd whisper, chuckles arise from that area. Peter can’t help but agree, they don’t sound like the nicest group.

****  
****  
**Toomes spun around and grinned, a grin that said ‘Say one more thing, I dare you’. He ****got defensive, asking him rhetorically what he said.** ****

“Dad…” Liz groans, she hunches her shoulders, looking down and covers her face with one of her hands.

****  
**He looked around at his crew of workers. Brice whistled, looking away.** ****

‘Ooh’s and snickers rise from the crowd as if they were children, which, the majority were. They were on the edge of their seats, hoping for a little action, anticipating a fight.

****  
**He spoke shortly to his crew, sarcastically saying that he overextended himself. S****uddenly, he whirled around and punched the agent. The rest of the agents pointed their guns at him.** ****

Shrieks are heard.

Liz gasps, “Oh my god.”

Gasps rise from students and teachers alike, whereas the Avengers, used to this, just watch quietly.

“Oh god, is someone gonna get shot!?” A student worries, knowing that this happened in real life.

****  
**A worker stressed that he should not do 'it'.**  
****  
**Anne Marie Hoag ordered them to put the guns down.** **The agents tensely lowered their guns.** ****

Sighs leave the mouths of the tense students. They slump back in their seats, happy that no one was shot.

“Is it bad that I'm disappointed that no one was shot?” Another one of Flash’s lackeys stage-whispers.

Students, teachers, and the Avengers alike quickly turn to look at the kid with an affronted and offended-on-behalf-of-literally-any-one-of-the-workers look, the kid answers back with a sassy, “What?”

“You wanted someone to get shot for, what, entertainment?” Clint asks,

“Drama?” Is the answer. Clint and the teachers scoff. 

“Taylor, getting shot is not ‘dramatic’, it's a potentially mortally wounding injury that has killed possibly billions.” Principal Mortia. 

“Listen to Principal Morita.” Coach Wilson says 

“Mortita?!” Steve asks in a raised voice, standing up and searching for the principal, who raises his hands. “Are you related to Jim Morita?!”

“Yes”

Steve is practically bouncing on his feet, causing people to laugh with/at his joy. “I know you have probably heard this a lot, but your grandfather - or father, I don't know - was a great man.” Principal Morita smiles at that. They resume watching with a lighthearted mood in the air.

****  
**Anne Marie Hoag spoke professionally to Toomes, telling him that if he had any grievances, he should take it to her superiors.** ****  
****  
**Toomes yelled angrily at the woman, asking who her superiors were.**  
****

  
**A TV was playing the news about Tony Stark and his contract with Damage Control. Toomes watched the TV with an angry look on his face. **

**The anchor reported of the collaboration between ****Stark Industries and the federal government. The man informed the listeners that the Department of Damage Control will make sure the collection of alien materials is done properly. **  
**  
** **Schultz was angry and summed up an entire paragraph with one sentence. “So now the assholes who made this mess are being paid to clean it up.”**

Tony frowns, and so does Peter, “The Avengers aren't assholes…” Peter says.

“If it weren't for the Avengers they'd all be dead!”

“Yeah! They should be grateful!” Tony and the Avengers smile, happy to know they do some good even if they aren't on the best of terms, happy that at least some people are grateful.****  
****

”To be fair, they just lost their job.” A student interrupts.

”They only lost that one day, they still clean up stuff right?”

”Who knows.”

****   
**The News Anchor continued, saying that experts estimate there are hundreds of tons of the exotic material was trashed across New England.**

  
**Mason was tinkering with the alien power source that one of the workers stole from the salvage site earlier that day. ** **The glowing alien artifact was now connected to a motor with wires. The blades on the motor started to spin and the machine floated off the table. **

“Woah! Look at that, it's floating!” A student yells in awe.

“It's a Chitauri energy core, alien stuff, it's basically what you use to charge your toothbrush.” Ned says, people look at him weirdly, and he realises his mistake and tries to fix his mistake, keyword: tries. “I- I mean, what is that purple glowy thing? It looks weird…?”

“How do you know what that is?” Clint asks, looking at him calculatingly. Ned pales, and looks nervous.

“Maybe he just read about it from somewhere on the internet?” Tony tries defending Peter’s friend. Ned looks at Tony in shock.

Clint looks at him like he's stupid, then asks, “Do you know anything about it?” ****

“Yes, Toomes highjacked my plane with his weapons.”

Clint furrowed his brows, “What weapons?”

**One of the workers pulled off a**** sheet covering a large piece of Chitauri artifact, revealing a dozen of glowing Chitauri energy cores.** ******A worker asked Toomes what to do with the load.**  
****  
**Mason commented that they could make stuff with the alien material.******

Peter tightens his lips, inhaling slowly. Ned looks at him with a confused-yet-interested look, “Is that them?” He asks in a moderately quiet voice. Peter nods. A classmate next to them looks at them weirdly.

****   
**Toomes stared at the truck full of alien items and made up his mind. He told them that the world was changing, and they should too. **   
****   
****

“Oh god.” Tony says, the Avengers agree.

****   
**8 YEARS LATER**

****  
**  
**“‘8 years later’? Yeah, everything's fine…” A student says sarcastically. 

**The Rolling Stones’ “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” was playing in the warehouse.**

“Nice song.” A student says.

“Bad song, it sucks.” A student says,

“Please tell me, in the two-word sentence that I said, where I asked?” The boy quips, defending he and his taste in music, the students laugh at their exchange.

“You- you said it when you told us you liked this..”

“Yeah, you got satin shoes. Yeah, you got plastic boots. Y'all got cocaine eyes” The boy sings as revenge.

“Nooo!” the student groans. There is loud laughter from the boy who likes the song.

**Workers were moving piles of alien tech and tinkering with machines, Mason worked on an elaborate rifle gun. Another worker fired a neon blast from an exotic gun, the blast cut through a large item, blowing it in half. Workers loaded piles of high tech weapons onto a van.** ****

“Yo, holy shit!” A student yells, their classmates shout similar sentences or sounds of shock.

****  
**Cash pours through a money counting machine.** ****

“You could buy a lot of chicken nuggets with all that money.” Ned said.

“At least one.” Peter commented,

“Well, you're not wrong...” MJ agreed.

The adults in the room look at the teens in confusion.

**A figure wearing a flying suit with expensive metal wings soared toward the warehouse. Doors in the ceiling opened and the figure dropped crates of alien tech from the suits’ claw-like feet. The helmeted figure came through the roof and landed on the platform, he steps out of the wing suit and faced Mason.**

  
“Imma be real that suit looks dope as fuck.” One of Flash’s lackeys says. Peter glares at him, along with the Avengers who looks at him disapprovingly.

The lackey makes a sound of confusion, shrugging their shoulders.

****  
**  
** **“There you go, Mason.” Toomes said. The helmet opened, revealing Toomes. Mason grinned. “Business is good.”**


	2. “The nerdiest nerd to ever nerd is Spider-Man?”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a Film by Peter Parker
> 
> There are shouts of confusion, Flash yelled, “What the fuck does Penis have to do with this!?” “Where is Spider-Man!?” One of his lackeys said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fjbdijnds i rlly hope you like this. btw if there are holes and stuff that doesnt make sense, i am my own editor and i do it as i go...

**The Marvel intro plays.**

“Why is it red? Wait now it’s orange… This looks cool”  
“Wait! Thats Iron Man!” 

“Look at the Hulk!” 

“Woah, look at the Avengers!”

“Hey who’s that black suit guy? And that other red…” 

“It’s the Black Widow!” “It’s Thor!”

“Oh my god he’s throwing a shield while something behind him explodes that’s so cool.”

“Woah what’s that golden place?!” 

“Scarlet Witch!”

“It’s the Falcon!” 

“Spider-Man!” “Holy shit is that Tony Stark”

“What’s Marvel?” There was great excitement at seeing their literal heroes.

**  
** **a Film by Peter Parker**

There are shouts of confusion, Flash yelled, “What the fuck does Penis have to do with this!?”

“Where is Spider-Man!?” One of his lackeys said. 

Tony stands and looks at the kid who said that, “‘Penis’?”

Flash deflates, and shrinks back, “I- I didn’t- I- I said… Peter, I didn't say Penis, who- I…” Flash stops.

“His name is Peter.” Tony sits down.

Ned leans over to Peter, “Dude Tony-freaking-Stark defended you,” Peter looks at him, “That's so cool.”

****  
**Through a small, rectangular screen, the scenery of New York passing by at a high velocity was recorded. The recorder, Peter Parker, seemed to be on a highway.** ****  
**  
** **Peter spoke in a gravelly voice, “New York. Queens. It’s a rough borough, but hey, it’s home.” **

Students laughed.

****  
****  
**Happy interrupted him the teen, asking him who he was talking to. The camera quickly paned to reveal Happy Hogan driving in the front seat.** ****

“Who’s he?”

“Forehead of security, I think.” Peter answered, Tony wheezed out a laugh at his response. “Am I wrong?” Peter asked.

“No! You-You’re right!” Tony slapped his knee, bending over.

**** **Peter answered simply, saying he was just making a video of the trip. Happy told him he couldn't show it to anyone, which Peter said that he understood.**

“Why can’t he show it to anyone?” No one answered the students' question.

****  
**Happy grilled him on why he was narrating in that gruff voice.**  
****  
**Peter, in a puppy-ish voice, said that it was fun.**  
**  
** **Happy was already done with him. Apparently, Happy thought this whole situation was the opposite of fun. He put on his sunglasses and solemnly looked out the windshield.**

“So I’m not the only one who narrates trips?” A random student asks rhetorically, there are nods of agreement from the other students. “It's fun to narrate a trip, especially if you're going somewhere cool.” The student declared, smiling. 

“Hey, where were you going?” Another student wondered.

Peter answered in a quiet, but loud enough to be heard, voice, “Germany.” Students ‘ooh’d at the new information,

“Was it fun?” One of the students listening asked, leaning over in their chair in interest.

Peter thought back to the trip, it wasn't fun, but it certainly wasn't boring. Interesting. “Uh, it wasn't boring, but not fun… It was interesting I guess?” 

“My fun trip to Germany wasn't fun?” Tony turned around and asked.

Peter sputtered. There were shouts asking if ‘Tony-goddamn-Stark’ took him to Germany. “I mean-! Well…” Peter chuckled nervously, face twisting up in an expression of apology.

“Germany wasn't fun.” Steve said.

“You went to Germany with the fucking Avengers?!” Shouted students. Peter nodded, face as red as his suit (Though they don’t know it’s his suit.) There were more shouts and questioning, students audibly intrested in why one of their classmates got to go to Germany with at least one Avenger.

“Damn, whose dick did you have to suck to score that, Penis?” Flash mumbled, he and his lackeys laughed at that.

Lucky him, he was sitting close to two super soldiers. Steve looked absolutely pissed as he stood and glared at Flash. The kid was pale and looked noticeably scared. “Did you just insinuate that one of your classmates sucked our dicks?”

Flash squeaked, “No! No, I didn’t!” Bucky raised at unimpressed eyebrow at the teen, who looked down and nodded, “I did...” Was whispered by the intimidated student. His shoulders were hunched, being glared at by Captain America and James Buchanan Barnes, two famous war hero's and legends, was far from fun.

”Don’t do it again. Underage sex with an adult in any form is not funny.” Steve glared at the teen, offended that he would think any one of his teammates would do such a thing.

Natasha, sitting next to Steve, asked what happened. She was informed, if her disgusted face was anything to go by, she looked at Flash, then turned to Tony when he too asked. It was easy to guess that he too was informed, as he stood and glared as angrily as a mother bear at Flash, 

“Insinuate anything like that, and in any variation of that, ever again, and I will be sure that the best job you could ever get is a half-star McDonalds. Don't you ever call my kid that again, boy.”

‘Kid’? Peter asked himself. Students looked at him with a shocked look. “You're Tony Stark's son?” 

“I'm not! No.” Peter said, blushing. “Let's just continue watching!” He waved a hand at the screen, desperate to get it over with.

****  
****  
**Peter asked why the older man was called 'Happy'. Happy raised the limo’s partition. The audience can see a reflection of Peter Parker holding up his phone and filming. ** ****

People laugh at Happys lack of tolerance for the teen.

**  
** **Later, Peter got out of the car to find a small private plane waiting for him.**

“Holy shit, you have a private plane?”

Peter is sweating a river, “Uh- I- Uh, I don't have a private plane?” He answers, said more like a question. 

“But it’s right there.” Peter is silent.

“Maybe you’ll get more answers if you spend less time talking and more time watching.” MJ says. Students nod to themselves in agreement and continue watching.

  
  
**Happy tells him that he wasn't carrying Peter's bags.** ** Peter asked innocently if he should use the bathroom before, which Happy responded with the fact that there was a bathroom on it. ** **Inside the plane, a view of the cockpit is shown. Two seats for the pilot and copilot were there, with no one is sitting in them.**

**  
** **“Whoa. No pilot? That’s awesome.”**

“Woah.” Ned whispers next to him. He turns to Peter, wanting to hear more about the experience.

“It was so cool!” Peter tells his friend, “It had food and stuff! And the seats were really comfortable.” 

“Oh yeah, it was the first time you have ever been on a plane right?” Peter nods. “Planes are cool.” 

“I guess, it was really scary though.” Ned nods sympathetically, knowing the main reason he was scared of planes.****

**Peter sat down across from Happy, directly facing him. “Is that where you’re gonna sit?” Happy asked. **

**“Yeah.” Peter said, sounding shaky. **

**“This is your first time on a private plane?”** ****  
**  
** **“My first time on any plane.”**

“Is that why you sound terrified?” Tony asks Peter, turning around in his seat.

“Um- sure…” Tony looks unconvinced, and raises an eyebrow. “My parents died in a plane crash.”

Tony releases a breath in sympathy, remembering that was how he got orphanded. The lighthearted room turns to ice, “I’m sorry…” 

“It’s okay!” Peter rushes to reassure his mentor. Tony looks at him with a sad face, then returns his gaze to the movie.****  
****

**Happy moved away to sit in another seat.**

“Rude.” MJ says, Ned nods.

****   
****   
**Peter sounded scared when he asked if the plane should be making the odd noises.** ****

Peter heard quiet sounds of sympathy from some students. It honestly shocked him, no one ever really cared for him, aside from the teachers, May, and of course his two friends.

**  
** **Later. **

**Peter put a finger to his lips and made a shushing sound.** **The camera reveals Happy snoring. At the sound of Peter’s chuckle, Happy jerked awake, causing the whole frame to shake.**

Laughter is heard throughout the theatre.

”Wait what’d you do?” Someone asked Peter, turning to the boy. Other heads turned.

”Nothing, honestly. He woke himself up.” Peter answers, shrugging with a smile.

“My dog was once snoring, and he snored so loud he woke himself and my dad up, who was sleeping in his chair in proper father fashion.” A student story-told

**  
** **Inside Berlin Brandenburg Airport, German signs were hanging around, Happy was shown dragging his luggage behind him.**

The people who haven't left the country - America - lean on the edge of their seats in an attempt to to see the quick clips of Germany better.

****  
****  
**Peter was sightseeing Berlin, recording Berlin streets, the Brandenburg Gate, a street performer, foreign girls, and a pretzel vendor.** ****

“Germany looks so pretty!” A student yells in awe, Peter nods in agreement, it really was beautiful, he wishes he got to see more; he wonders if he asked Tony, the man would have let him see more? 

“Where did you go in Germany?” Another student asks him, he stutters.

“A-An airport?” People laugh, thinking it was a joke.

**  
** **“No one has actually told me why I’m in Berlin or what I’m doing. Something about Captain America going crazy.”**

There are sounds of confusion throughout the large room, and Natasha glares at Tony, whom of which has his face in his hands. “Why would you be in Germany because of Captain America ‘going crazy’?”

Peter stares at his hand. Rhodey looks at Tony, suspicious.

  
**Happy and Peter enter a hotel, the older man was shown pointing at a door, “This is you.”** ****  
****

**Peter asked if they were neighbors, which he sounded excited about. Happy said that they weren't roomates, and told him to suit up.**

“‘Suit up’?” Someone asks. 

Rhodey stares at Tony, “Don’t tell me…” Tony, face still in his hands, lets out a loud sigh of despair. 

“Mr. Parker, what did the guy mean by ‘suit up’?” Coach Wilson asks him, looking suspicious. 

“Uhhh-Um- We-We’ll see soon! Maybe?” Peter squeaks. Wanda looks at Peter.

”Oh god, is this gonna turn into a porno? I thought this was a movie about Spider-Man?” Some student groaned.

”Maybe it is?” Another student, who had pieced it together, whispered in shock.

  
  
**It cut to inside Peter's hotel room. Standing in front of a mirror, Peter was wearing his homemade Spider-Man suit, consisting of a thin, baggy sweatshirt, goggles with shutters, and web-shooters.**

  
There is an uproar. “Peter fucking Parker is goddamn Spider-Man?!”

“The nerdiest nerd to ever nerd is Spider-Man?”

“I can’t believe I bullied Spider-Man…” Flash whispers, eyes wide. 

“You brought an 8 year old to fight the Avengers?!” Nick Fury, once silent, now not, yells at Tony. Everyone is silent as he stands. 

“I’m fifteen…” Fury points a finger at Peter before turning back to Tony.

“Stark I can't believe you brought a child into our fight.” Steve says.

Wanda glares at Tony, eyes red and hands glowing. “I cannot believe you!”

“Stark what the fuck?” Clint glares.

“You hypocrite,” Bucky starts, looking at Steve. Everyone turns to the ragged man. Steve looks at him with a confused face. “When you were fifteen you tried to enlist as a soldier, despite having a laundry list of issues; asthma, scarlet fever, palpitations, must I go on? This kid is enhanced, I doubt he has even half the issues you had-”

“I actually don't have any issues other than my anxiety on steroids and LSD.” Peter interrupts him.

Tony and literally everyone else looks at him while Ned laughs. “Your what?” Tony asks.

“My Spidey-Senses, they alert me of things being thrown or shot at me, they also alert me of possible dangers, which sucks outside of fights, where they yell at me if I am about to get shot.” 

“Why do they suck outside of fights?” 

“My Spidey-Senses apparently think flies are a danger to national security, so a fly was in my room and I almost had a panic attack.” Peter answers. 

Ned laughs louder, gushing, “We- Ha! We were building legos, and suddenly Peter freezes and gets this look of absolute panic on him, and just jumped onto the ceiling, grabs his web shooters, and snipes the fly better than James Buchanan Barnes could ever wish to do. It was terrifying, but then hilarious when he told me why.”

“You sniped a fly.” Natasha deadpans. Tony snorted, face red.

“It doesn't excuse the fact that he brought a child into this fight.” Steve said in his ‘Captain-America-is-disappointed-in-you’ voice

“Listen,” Tony starts, putting up his walls, “I was running on like four hours of sleep for the whole time the Accord-thing was going on,” Rhodey sighs. 

Tony continued, “At first, I was planning on just giving him a better suit to give him better protection, maybe make him an Avenger if he is still Spider-Man when he is 18. But then we were gonna fight, so, my insomniac-ass thought it would be smart to bring him into the fight.” 

“Why didn’t you just tell him to not be Spider-Ma-” Clint yells.

“I tried! It didn't work!” Interrupts Tony.

May looks at Tony, “What do you mean?”

Tony is about to answer but Peter stops him, “I crashed his plane.”

The Avengers, except for Tony, all started wheezing in laughter.

Principal Morita interjects himself into the conversation, “I’m sorry, did you just say he crashed your plane?” 

“Yeah, Toomes was gonna steal some stuff from it. Peter crashed it to stop that from happening.” Tony tries to sound nonchalant about it, but he remembers the terror he felt when he learned from Happy that Peter crashed the plane. He almost had a panic attack when Happy told him he couldn’t find the kid. 

“I didn’t mean to crash it!” Peter cries, “It just started falling!”

The conversation ends there, no one having an idea of what to say. Steve stops wheezing, sympathy for the kid, knowing how terrifying it is to be in a falling plane. Even if he was the one crashing it, but apparently the kid didn’t have a choice of whether it was gonna be in the air or in the ground. Steve did, he crashed the plane himself to stop it from destroying New York.

**Peter was pumping himself up, “Okay, Peter, you got this. You got this.”**

“You look like a loser.” MJ declares.

“Don’t I always?” Peter asks rhetorically.

  
**Happy walked in, looked horrified, and asked what the hell he was wearing.** ****

Tony snorts.

**  
** **Happy was staring at Peter with a horrified look. Peter tilted down the camera to reveal his feet.**

The students laugh at Happys horrified face.

  
  
** Peter happily answered that it was his suit.**  
**  
****Happy asked where the case was. ****Peter is now confused, asking what the case was. Happy opened a door, showing Peter another area of his suite.**  
**“What? I thought that was a closet. This is still my room?” Happy is exasperated. P****eter is awed.** ****

“Wow, how big was your hotel room?” Ned looks at Peter in awe.

“It was big.”

Ned looks even more enchanted, “Woah.”

****   
**Happy points at a case sitting on a coffee table.** ** Peter sounded excited that he found the case. He plucked up a card that says “A minor upgrade -TS” from the case, this confused Peter once more.**

**When Peter unbuckled a lock, the case opened itself, revealing a high-tech Spider-Man suit, complete with cool holograms.** ****

“Woah!” Ned yells. “That looks so cool.”

“Holy shit.”

“Language!” A teacher reprimands.

“So this is where you got your suit…” May said to herself.

“Y’know, Stark, I’m appalled but not surprised you would endanger a child like that.” Fury says, face cold.

Peter frowned, “I was Spider-Man before he came to me. The suit he gave me made doing what I do safer.”

Fury, and the rest of the Avengers looked at him, “Oh yeah?” Fury says.

Peter nodded, “If I got shot, with the suit Mr. Stark gave me, Karen - my AI - would alert him. Without the suit, I’d have to take out the bullet and clean it and wait for it to heal.” Peter tells him, speaking from experience. The looks on the Avengers face tell him that they know. 

“I tried to get him to stop, didn’t work.” Tony says.

“Yeah, he crashed your plane.” Rhodey snorted

”That was after I tried to get him to stop, I took his suit-“ He closes his eyes in regret, bending over and holding his face in his hands. His chest squeezes, heart feeling like it’s being crushed.

  
**Peter yelled in excitement. ** **Peter moved the camera back-and-forth, he yelled about how it was very cool. He then asks if it was for him.**   
  
**   
** **The camera spun to find Happy leaving the room.**

There is loud laughter at how done Happy is with Peter. “He just met Peter and he's already so done with him.” Tony says, chuckling softly at his friend, his smile is fake.

“Hey!” Peter grumbles, slightly insulted.

“Ain't that a mood.” MJ says, Peter looked at her with puppy eyes. MJ just stares at him with an unyielding look, “Your doe eyes don't work on me, you know this.” Peter pouts, looking down at his hands.

  
**  
** **“Happy, Happy, wait.”**

The laughter continues.

****  
**  
** **Peter took off the mask of his homemade Spider-Man suit with a huge, excited grin on his face. “This is insane. Insane. Look at this thing. Look. Look at the eyes.” The camera turns back to show Peters awe-struck face. “This is the greatest day of my life.”**

“Puppy Parker.” Peter heard one of the students say, he groans in annoyance,

“Please don't call me that.”

****  
****  
**Happy orders Peter to hurry as he came to drag a hyped-up Peter out of the room.** ****

  
**Outside Flughafen Leipzig-Halle, the screen shows Iron Man, War Machine, Captain America, Black Widow, and Black Panther confronting each other.** ****  
**  
** **Peter whispered, “Okay, there’s Captain America, Iron Man, Black Widow. Whoa. Who’s that new guy?”**

“Oh my god are you gonna fight with the Avengers?” A student asks loudly, turning to Peter with an excited look on their face.

“Look at how they are positioned…”

“Oh…” Two students conversed.

Bucky turns to Sam, “Didn’t we fight that kid?” 

“Oh my god I punched a five year old.” Sam looks mortified.

“I’m fifteen!”

“Yeah but you’re young enough to say that.”

Bucky looked down at his metal hand. Then he furrows his eyebrows, “You caught my hand?” 

“Yeah, Captain America also dropped this big loading-thingy on me and I caught it.” Peter answers.

Tony whipped around, having been watching the interaction, to Steve. “You what.” 

Rhodey groans quietly, “Oh boy, here we go.”

“I dropped a plane bridge on a child…” Steve looks mortified.

Bucky turns to Steve with an unimpressed look, “And you were a 90-pound asthmatic with a whole load of illnesses when you joined the army.”

“It was for an experiment!” Steve is quick to defend himself, “Wait, you remember?”

“You were a 90-pound asthmatic when you joined the army for an experiment, you could have died.”

“The kid’s fifteen.” Steve gestured to the teen, trying to defend himself.

“And yet he caught my arm and that piece of an airport.” Steve was quiet.

“How’d you get your abilities” Steve looked at Peter. Everyone was quiet. “Uh, I went to Oscorp for a field trip, one of their radioactive spiders bit me.”

The teachers look horrified, “Why didn’t you tell us!?” Mr. Harrington yells, shocked. “You could have died!” 

Peter sputtered, before his mouth let him form words and speak properly. “I don't know.” The teachers and principal looked unsatisfied with the answer.

  
****  
**Tony yelled, “Underoos!”** ****  
****  
**We see Peter, now dressed in the Spider-Man suit that Tony gave him. He sounded excited that Tony called for him as he spoke quickly to the camera.**  
****

“‘Underoos’?” MJ asks him, looking at him with a ‘seriously?’ look on her face.

Peter blushed, “I don't like the nickname.” He immediately regretted saying it when she smirked. 

“Whatever you say, Underoos.” Peter sighs.

****  
**Peter puts down the camera and jumps away to snatch Captain America’s shield with his web.** ****

“Oh my god you stole Captain America's shield.” Flash said with awe. Peter looked at him tentatively. 

“Hey weren't you, like, a big fan of Spider-Boy?”

“Its Spider-Man.” Both Peter and Flash corrects her. Peter’s face goes red, and he hides his face in his hands.

****   
**Peter greets the heroes, holding his camera and swinging through the air to find a safe spot. The sounds of explosions could be seen and heard**

****  
The theatre is silent as they realise they didn’t know everything that happened in Germany.

Some were shocked that the Avengers were fighting each other, others were silent from the fact that a classmate of theirs, a fifteen year old asthmatic - not anymore, apparently - was fighting with the Avengers, against the Avengers.

****  
**  
** **“Okay, so the craziest thing just happened, right? I just had a fight with Captain America and I stole his shield and I threw it at him-”**

“I’m sorry, he what?”

“Yeah, I did.” Peter answered.

Students and teachers look at him in shock, “You fought America's Golden Boy.” One student says.

****  
****  
**The camera picks up the sound of a metallic noise. Ant-Man grows into a giant in the background and grabs War Machine by his ankle. Peter turns to see this.** ****  
****  
**Peter momentarily freaks out.**  
****  
**The phone is put down and for a moment, the camera only showing the sky and the clouds. Then, the battle commencing could be heard and the camera records War Machine being flung through the air. Rhodey yells as he flies through the air** ****

“Is that you!?” Ned yells, standing up.

Peter stutters, “Maybe so? I mean we both - War Machine and me - flew through the air so...” 

Ned flinches and walks in a circle. Peter looks around and sees teachers rubbing their foreheads. 

****  
**Back in Peter's hotel room, Peter is facing the camera, now dressed in a grey NASA T-shirt. It is obvious that he is still high on adrenaline.** **Peter rants to the camera about how it was amazing, speaking of Tony Stark, how he yelled 'Underoos', about how he then flipped in and stole Captain America's shield and said 'Hey, what's up.'**

The audience chuckles at the teens antics. ****  
****

  
**There’s a knock on his door.** **Peter yells that he's coming and backflips to the door, **

“Woah!” Multiple students yell.

Coach Wilson turns to Peter, “We could use you on literally every team.”

Peter looks at him, “Wouldn't that be cheating?” 

Coach Wilson looks sheepish, “I guess…”

**but before he can open it, Happy enters in a bathrobe.** ****  
****  
**Peter greets the man with a chirp.**** Happy complains in a deadpan voice about how the walls are thin.******

The audience snickers, while Peter blushed in embarrassment. 

****  
**A camera starts rolling, showing the inside Tony's car. A hand reaches for it and the camera tilts up to find Tony Stark in a suit and sunglasses ensemble.** **Tony looks at the camera, asking if he was doing a video diary**

“Oh my god, it’s Tony Stark.” A student says, flapping their hands.

Their friend snorts at them, “Tony Stark is literally right there.” They point at the man, whose head is tilted slightly. The student squeaks something unintelligible.

  
  
**Peter is embarrassed.**   
****   
**Tony reassures him that he would probably do the same, which causes Happy to pipe up from the driver's seat that he told him to not do it. ** **Happy declares that he's gonna wipe the chip.**   
****   
**Tony countered, saying that they should instead make an alibi. ** **Tony takes off his sunglasses, revealing a badly bruised face. Peter agrees.**

“Woah what happened to his face?!” Multiple students yell in various variations of said sentence. ****

**Tony asks if they're rolling, then tells the teen to g****et in the frame. Peter slides over and Tony begins, greeting May, he asks how she's doing and then, to the wonderful embarrassment of Peter, asks what she's wearing.**  
**  
**

Students sputter, barking out loud laughter. Peter blushes and sends a light glare in Tony's direction, two seats in front of him, whose face is back in his hands. “Regret…” He hears Tony say.

“That's very inappropriate.” Steve tells Tony, a large, disapproving frown on his face.

“You shouldn't speak about someone's aunt like that.” Clint sides with Steve. 

“So rude…” Wanda says, anger on her face.

“God, will you just continue watching the movie?” Rhodey says. The Avengers that spoke up look at him in shock, clearly haven’t been scolded for something like that in a while.

  
**  
** **Peter turns to Tony with a frown on his face. Tony chuckles and pats Peter’s shoulder, whose face now wears an uncomfortable smile. Tony says that they can start over, how that was inappropriate.**

Rhodey has a smirk of humour on his face. “Quite inappropriate.” He hears a teacher say.

****  
****  
**Peter agrees instantly. Looking at Tony, Peter chuckles.** ****  
****  
**Tony counts down, and greets May once more, telling the woman how Peter did an incredibly job at the retreat, and that everyone was impressed. Tony is putting on a solemn face. Peter offers the camera a wide-eyed, tight-lipped smile, trying to look innocent. Suddenly, a loud honk is heard.** ****

Mr. Harrington speaks up, “Wait, Ms. Parker didn't know that you're Spider-Man?”

Peter has a sheepish look on his face, “No? We- I- Mr. Stark said it was for a retreat… I don't want her knowing- didn't want her knowing.” 

Ms. Warren speaks up, “She knows now, at least, right?”

“It was an accident…” All the teachers send him a disapproving look. Peter hunches his shoulders in embarrassment.

****   
**Happy shouts in frustration, he then turns to Tony and apologizes. Tony tells him its because he wasn't on Queens Boulevard. The engineer turns back to the camera and says that the driver was hoping to be promoted to asset management, and that before he was...**   
****

“‘Forehead of security’?” Sam asks, chuckling as he says it.

Tony snorts in amusement, “Yeah he was.”

****   
**Still driving, Happy gives Tony a sidelong glance, he speaks in a low, embarrassed voice about how that was private.**   
****

**Tony wonders if he was snoring.**

Many students and one teacher answer “Yes.”

“I'll bet.” Tony says. A few students, so at least fourty compared to the around-one-thousand - squeak.

****   
**Happy slams on the brakes, making the car screech to a stop. ** ****

“He is so done with you both.” Rhodey shakes his head. “Y’know, Peter does look like Tony…”

“He is not my biological child.” Tony says.

“‘Biological.’” Tony is silent, lips forming unreadable words, before glaring at Clint. ****

**Tony laughs and films Peter, who looks a bit pale.** ****  
****  
**Tony asks Happy if he can give them a moment. Happy then goes to get the bags.**

**Peter’s film finally stops rolling. He slowly lowers his phone, shocked. “I can keep the suit?”**

Someone squeals in excitement, Peter is confused as to why.

****  
****  
**“Yes, we were just talking about it.” Tony puts his sunglasses back on and clears his throat. The rear window shows Happy struggling with Peter’s case. Tony asks him to not stress Happy out, that he has seen his cardiogram. **  
****  
****  
**Peter enthusiastically nods his head. “Yes.”** ****  
****  
**Tony looks him in the eyes, he says to not do anything he would do, and definitely nothing he would do. He informs him that there is a grey area, which is where he will work. ******

“That literally makes no sense.” MJ says, looking at Tony.

“Listen-” Tony sputters, “It makes perfect sense when I say it. There's stuff I would do that a child should not do, and some stuff I wouldn't do are also bad… “ 

“You mean saving people?” Peter asks, Tony goes quiet.

**  
** **“Wait, does that mean that I’m an Avenger?”**

Excited murmurs arose at the thought of their classmate being an Avenger. 

“No” The Avengers answer.

****   
****   
**“No.” Tony said bluntly. **

**Happy knocked on the window and holds the case up. The man asks if what he had was the case.**   
****   
**Tony answered him with '7th floor.'** ** Peter rushes to tell them that he can take it.**

“Aw, he’s so nice.” A student says.

Peter blushes. “He is.” The students friend agrees.

****  
****  
**Happy looks at Peter, asking if he was gonna take it. Peter says that he will, and nods.**  
****  
**Happy drops the case by the car.** ****  
****  
**Peter turns back to Tony, asking when the next retreat, making quotation marks with his hands, was.**  
**  
** **Tony seems to know what he means.**

Ned squeaked, “Oh my god my friend went on a mission with freaking Iron Man holy shit.” He fanboyed under his breath.

A few students turned to him, “Did you go on another mission?” He shook his head ‘no’.

Principal Morita sighed in relief, “ok good, I won't have to report Child Endangerment to the police”

****   
****   
**Peter nodded excitedly, repeating 'missions.' He gets more excited when Tony says they will call him, asking if he has his number.**   
****

“Oh my god does Tony Stark have his number?”

****   
**Tony shakes his head, saying that someone else will call the boy.** ****

“Oh.” A now disappointed voice said. 

“I mean, I do have his number.” Tony said from the front. 

A few students scream in excitement, “Can you have my number?!” 

****   
** Peter is disappointed.**

**Tony looks at Peter with his head tilted, saying it was all right.**

**“From your team.” Peter affirmed**

  
**Tony reaches for the door, leaning over Peter. The boy mistakes the gesture as a hug, and brings his arms shakily around Tony, face showing awe.** **  
**

Peter sighs in embarrassment, putting his head in his hands, finger tips digging into his eyes like an attempt to forget that scene.

Neds jaw was dropped, eyes wide, “Oh my god, you hugged Tony-freaking-Stark!”

Tony turned back with a smirk, his elbow resting on the back of the seat, body language was cocky though his face was red. “Did he?” Ned looked confused.

****  
**“It’s not a hug. I’m just grabbing the door for you. We’re not there yet.” ** ****

“Oh no…” Cindy said quietly, voice sympathetic.

****   
**Peter awkwardly climbs out of the car. **

**Almost as an afterthought, Tony calls out in a slightly awkward voice, “Bye.” Tony and Happy drive off. Holding his bag and the Spider-Man suit case, Peter grins,** ****  
****  
**“They’re gonna call me.” He heads to the apartment entrance. There is a definite spring in his step.** ****  
****

**  
**“Shit, he’s so excited.” Tony said.

“Shoulda let him hug you.” Rhodey said, looking at the man with a smile. Tony nods. Ned shoves his arm repeatedly, pointing wildly at the two men in front of them. He squeaks pleadingly, seemingly unable to form words in his fanboy excitement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I HOPE YOU LIKED THIS!!


	3. “I thought you were a noodle!”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter yanks off his shirt and sweater.
> 
> “Holy shit!” Erupted some students. “I thought you were a noodle!” A teen confessed loudly.
> 
> “I still can’t believe you got all that from a spider, bro.” Ned told him, looking at Peter with an impressed look on his face. 
> 
> “You couldn’t even do a pushup and yet you had all that under your shirt…” Coach Wilson shook his head in disbelief. “I’m a good actor?” Peter spoke in an awkward tone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you enjoy this!

**TWO MONTHS LATER** ****

“What a time jump.” 

**Peter is standing in a packed subway train. He takes out his phone and types out multiple texts about him checking in, telling Happy that he was ready for his next mission.**

**He scrolls through dozens of unanswered messages to Happy.** ****

“Christ, kid. That’s why Happy is always complaining to me…” Tony chuckled in amusement, shaking his head. All the times Happy has complained to him making sense. 

“Why so many texts?” Flash asks in a taunting voice.

****  
**  
** **The train drops Peter off at 36th Avenue Station, which is right next to Midtown High. He walks downstairs to street level where football fields stand surrounded by fences, he strolls down the sidelines and approaches the main building. Students playing all kinds of sports on the field are shown on the large screen. He climbs a flight of stairs, then quickly avoids being hit by a convertible driven by Flash Thompson, a slick-haired teenager.**

May stands up in anger, then turns to Flash, who shrinks down in fear. Wanda speaks first, while Tony and May are glaring at the teen, “Did that kid try to hit Peter with his car?!” Flash looks terrified. “What would you have done if you hit Peter, huh?” Flash gets a conflicted look on his face.

****  
**  
** **“What’s up, Penis Parker?” Is yelled.**

Tony and May practically growl.

****  
**  
** **Students chuckle at that.**

“Are they seriously laughing at the fact that one of their classmates almost got hit by a car?” Steve asks, incredulous. The man turns around to look at the kids, who looked down guiltily. “Have you ever done anything about the bullying?” He asks the teachers, the rest of the superheroes look at the adults expectantly, who look embarrassed.

Tony sighs in disappointment and anger, hands clenching as he looks up while taking a deep breath.

**Peter suppresses a sigh and moves on.** ****

“You look used to it.” May says, arms crossed. Peter flounders for a moment, unsure of what to say. 

“I am…” His face screws up in a silent apology as he looks at May, a tentative smile growing on his face.

“We are gonna talk about that later.”

**A school news report is playing in the hallway, Betty Brant and Jason Ionello as the news anchors. **

Betty gasps, “It’s me!”

Jason hits his friends shoulders in excitement the points to the screen, “Look! Look! I’m in a Spider-Man movie!”

”I know!” One of his friends whisper-shouts, excitement on their face as well.

**Betty greets the school with a smile, the student looking like a younger version of a news reporter. Jason chimes in, reminding the students of Midtown Science and Technology to not forget their homecoming tickets. He then asks Betty if she has a date for homecoming.**

Some of the students snicker, remembering that particular school news ‘episode’.

****  
****  
**Betty looks awkward, “Thanks, Jason, but I already have a date.”** ****  
****  
**“Okay.”** ****  
**“Yeah.”** ****  
**  
** **On TV, Jason looked at the camera awkwardly, looking slightly mortified.**

“Oof” 

“Rejected.” A student sings, laughing.

“Oh that poor kid.” Clint says, trying to muffle his laughter.

A few seats back, Jason is wishing he could turn invisible and cease to exist, his excitement disappearing that the movie showed ‘that’ episode.

  
**Principal Morita is heard in the hallway greeting the teens. A teenage boy flies a drone around the crowded hallway. Peter walks by while Principal Morita grabs the drone out of the air. **

“Oof.”

**“Damn it.” He sounds used to it, “You, in my office right now.”**

“When will I get my drone back?” The student asks. The principal doesn’t answer.

“Okay...” The student pouts down at their shoes.

**While the drone pilot follows the principal, other students carry their science projects. **

**Peter stops at his locker and takes off his jacket, and enters in the combination, swinging open the locker. The camera shifts views and the students can see Peter from inside the locker. Suddenly, a hand pops up behind him. It’s Ned Leeds holding a Palpatine Lego figure over Peter’s shoulder.**

Ned gasps, “It’s me!” He slaps Peters arm excitedly, “It’s me! I’m in a movie! I’m in your movie-! Oh my god, dude, you have a movie.” 

“You’re my guy in the chair, of course you are in the movie.” Peter tells Ned.

Ned freezes and looks at Peter seriously, his hand gripping Peters muscled arm, “I’d die for you.”

“Thanks.” Peter is silent while he internally screams and wishes he could have said something different.

”No problem, bro.”

  
****  
**Ned imitated Emperor Palpatine, “Join me, and together... we’ll build my new Lego Death Star.”** ****  
**  
** **Peter turns around in shock and excitement, “What?” Peter glances around and hears a cheerleader say, ‘So lame.’**

**  
**“Rude.” May says, arms crossed. “Why aren't people allowed to enjoy their own things, it's not like legos are hurting anyone.” The woman sounds bitter, angered by the treatment her nephew seems used to. Why hasn't he said anything? First Spider-Man, then this? He’s being bullied and he didn’t tell her. 

May decides that not voicing her thoughts wont answer her questions, “Peter, why didn’t you tell me you were being bullied?” Peter looks at her sheepishly, “They only said Legos were lame.” 

May narrows her yes, “You were almost hit by a car.” 

Peter is quick to quip, “I’m almost hit by cars a lot. Same for being shot. I fought the Winter Soldier and the Falcon. I once took down a plane, I was on top of it while it crashed.”

Her lips thin, like her patience. “Peter.” 

The buy looks down apologetically, “I’m sorry, okay?” He looks up at her with his puppy eyes, “You already have a lot on her plate, and besides, I can handle it! I have super-healing and super-everything! Getting shoved into lockers is easier, same for dodging cars.” 

May is furious, “How long?”

Everyone is quiet as they watch the conversation, Tony is multitasking, watching the two and also thinking of every way he could teach the kid - Flash, what a stupid nickname - a lesson in a legal way. “Uh… 5th grade?”

May is silent, she stands, her eyes practically flaming, “You’ve been bullying my kid since 5th grade!?” She yells at Flash, arms shaking as she clenches her hands into fists.

Flash looks seconds away from peeing his pants. Ned is ecstatic as he watches his and his best friends’ bully get what's been coming for him. “Y-Yes, I-I’m sorry m’a-m’am I-I’ll stop-stop I promise.”

Mays voice is dark, “You better.”

Quite a few students smirk and laugh, Flash has tormented many students for years, and due to his rich parents he always got away with it. Lucky for them, Flash’s main target was always Peter, unluckily for him.

****   
**Peter ignores them, and quickly asks Ned how many pieces the LEGO set had. ** **Ned answers in an instant, telling his friend that there were three thousand, eight hundred, and three LEGO pieces in the set.**

“How… Was there really eight thousand whatever pieces?” A kid asks, looking dumbfounded.

“Uh yeah, but there were three thousdand. Three thousand, eight hundred and three Lego pieces.” Peter corrected.

****   
****   
**“That’s insane." Peters voice was nearly breathy with anticipation, he had an excited expression on his face, holding his books and papers in his crossed arms. **

**Ned shared his enthusiasm, “I know! You want to build it tonight?”** **Peter started to make an excuse, but before he could, Ned interrupted him with a nod, “Mmhm, Stark internship.”** ****

“Stark Internship?” Steve asks Tony.

“Yeah, I have a photo of both of us.” Tony smiles as he remembers the day the photo was taken, he laughs quietly when he also remembers the bunny ears. 

“I thought that was a cover for his secret identity?” Sam asks. Tony shakes his head, 

“Nope, gave it to him after he crashed my plane.”

Apparently Charles was an exception. “I can’t believe Twink Parker crashed a plane.” 

**Peter agreed and starts to walk down the hallway with his best friend, notebooks held close to his chest. ** **Ned spoke in a matter-of-fact tone, sounding upset and nodding his head as he and Peter talked.**

“You told your school you had an internship at Stark Industries?” Natasha asked Peter, Peter felt intimidated by her.

“I only told the teachers and Ned, but then Ned,” Peter glared at Ned, who looked embarrassed, “told everyone I had an internship there.” 

Tony snorted from his seat in the front row.

  
**“Yeah, well, hopefully, soon it’ll lead to a real job with them!” Peter said, hope in his voice. Ned shared his enthusiasm with his friend, commenting on how amazing the opportunity would be, Peter agreed with a slight bounce.**

“Wait- was this before or after the plane crash?” Wanda asks. 

“Um, before. So no internship yet.” Peter answers the witch, who nods and turns back to the screen.

**Ned imitated Tony Starks congratulation in an amusing manner, miming holding a gold coin. Peter gave him a look. Ned defended himself by telling him he didn't know how jobs worked. **

  
**“That’s exactly how they work.” ** ****

“Oh he is precious.” Rhodey chuckles. 

**Ned chuckled, then continued talking about the Death Star LEGO set. His voice faded out as Peter slows to a stop.**

** In slow motion, the camera showed who caught his eye - a pretty dark-haired girl talking with her friends down the hall, she brushed her hair back and their eyes meet. Peter was mesmerized. He could barely keep up with his conversation with Ned.** ****

Tony and May burst out laughing. “I’m sorry!” May apologises as she laughs, her hand slapping against her thigh.

Rhodey pipes up, “Kid, you are so obvious. I feel bad for the teachers… they have to deal with clueless teens falling in love.”

The teachers laugh at that, some louder than others. “We also have to deal with kids getting crushes on us…” Coach Wilson shudders. 

A small handful of students try to defend themselves, quicky stopping as they realise they are outing themselves. “Stop being horny on main.” A student judges, their friend, one of the students who tried to defend their crush, sputtered.

“This is hilarious.” Clint whispers to Natasha, who hits his head. “Hey!”

“Can you feel the love tonight.” Betty sings, drawing out the words.

****  
**Neds voice faded back in, not paying attention to his friends lack of attention. Ned seemed unaware of his friends crush as he talked about the most difficult part being the base of the set. ** ****  
**  
** **Peter had heart eyes, “That’d be great.” **

**The school bell rang, students rush to get to their class.** **** ****

**  
**“Peter, you should be the heart-eyes emoji for halloween.” Abe tells him. 

“It’s kind of lame, being yourself for halloween.” Sally says. Students burst out in laughter, Peter’s face is on fire. Someone falls out of their seat, there more laughter.

**  
** **The setting was in physics class, Ms. Warren speaking, the teacher asked how to calculate linear acceleration between two points. She points at Flash, who is confidently holding up his hand. **

****  
**Flash spoke in a cocky voice “It’s the product of sine of the angle and gravity divided by the mass.”** ****

“Wrong.” Tony says.

**Ms. Warren shook her head. Another hand went up, but Ms. Warren called out a student who was clearly having difficulty focusing on the lecture, she asked Peter if he was listening. **

“Why do teachers always call on the ones who aren’t paying attention…” A student groans in annoyance. Other students mumble in agreement. 

“Because we want all of you to pass school, so we call on you to give you the tools to pass.” 

“How does calling one someone who have severe social anxiety ‘give you the tools to pass’?” A student asked, not expecting an answer.

  
**Peter had been watching a video of Spider-Man on YouTube.**

“You were watching videos of yourself?” MJ looked at him with an unimpressed raise of her eyebrows. 

“I was just trying to see where I could improve!”

“Fair.”

**  
** **“Uh... Uh... Yeah, yeah.” He closed the laptop, revealing a diagram of a simple gravity pendulum.**

“Ooh, smart boy, huh?” Rhodey turns to look at Peter, “No wonder Tony likes you.”

“He has an intelligence to rival my own!” Tony brags, feeling proud of how his protege is as smart as him and he is only fifteen. 

“Ooh, Tony Stark admitting someone has an intelligence to rival his own?” Fury mocks. Clint, Natasha, and Wanda snickers, “Didn’t know you had it in you, Stark.” 

“He also made his own computer, albeit it looks ancient, but it's really well made!” Rhodey chuckles. Bruce looks at the two, intrigued by the fact that Tony complimented some kids intelligence by comparing it to his own. “Bruce you have to meet this kid.”

“Do you have his parents number?” Rhodey interrupts with a knowing look. Peter coughed. “No, but I have his aunts number, we talk a lot.”

Ned turns to him and manages to lightly shake his shoulder, “Dude, Tony Stark has your aunts phone number!” 

“I know!” Peter says. 

  
****  
**Peter answered the question, “Uh... Mass cancels out, so it’s just gravity times sine.”** ****

“See? He’s smart!” Tony continues showing Peter off.

**Ms. Warren nods. She looked to Flash. “See, Flash, being the fastest isn’t always the best if you are wrong.”** ****  
**  
** **The class burst out in laughter. **

The students burst out in laughter.

**Flash turned in his seat and glared at Peter, mouthing a mild threat towards the boy.**

“Rude.” May’s voice was dark and protective.

****  
**Peter spun around to glance at a clock. 11:38 a.m. When Peter faces the front, he was wearing safety goggles.** ****  
****

**  
**A student awed, “Ohh he is so adorable.”

“Marcus, stop being gay on main.” Their friend whispers. Peter blushes, and looks at them. “Oh fuck he heard us.” ‘Marcus’ panics.

**Mr. Cobbwell was speaking, teaching the class about Niels Bohr, but assuring the class that the lession lesson wouldn't be 'borh-ing'. **

Mr. Cobbwell gasps, “It’s me!”

The students make noises of gen-Z disgust at the Bohr joke.

“I think it was a good joke.” Bruce says.

”Thanks!” Mr. Cobwell grins at the scientist.

**As Mr. Cobbwell continued on his introduction on Bohr, Peter opened his notes to a page titled ‘Web Fluid Version 3.01.’ Molecule diagrams and a list of liquids such as salicylic acid, toluene, and methanol are visible. Inside an open drawer is a beaker. **

Peter looks to Mr. Cobbwell, who has a look of awe on his face, “How… Have I never noticed?” 

Natasha turns to him, “He wasn’t really trying to hide it.” 

MJ looks at Natasha, “Well he was doing well enough because no one caught him.” 

**Peter quickly poured some orange liquid in it and stirs the concoction. The fluid started to thicken and increase in volume, then the fluid began to ooze over and out the beaker, when Peter lifts the glass stirring rod, the compound sticks to it like a spider web. Flustered, Peter quickly shuts the drawer and looks at the clock. It’s 12:35 p.m.** ****

Tony hummed, “Impressive.” 

Bruce looks at Peter, “How did you come up with the formula for that… ‘Web fluid’?” 

Peter answers “Uh, math, science and determination. I also figured that it’d be easier to swing through Queens than to run the whole time. My upper-body strength increased a lot when I got bit, so I don’t tire that much when I swing.”

**  
** **A homecoming banner was being hung over the clock on the cafeteria wall by Liz, who is standing on a ladder. **

A Sally turns to Liz, “Did it have to be hung over the clock?”

Liz smiles shyly, and blushes, flustered, “Sorry.” 

A friend, who also helped with decorating for homecoming, spoke up, ”Everyone turns to the clock to see the time, but if the banner was in front of it, then they would see it.” 

A student further back, who is also one of Flash’s friends, blurted in a sarcastic tone, “Didn't know homecoming needed to be advertised.” Mumbles of ‘rude’ came from the audience.

**Peter and Ned were sitting next to each other and watched her.** ****

“Creepy.” Wanda said. Peter felt his soul slowly leave his body.

**   
** **Peter asks if Liz got a new top.**

“Are you watching her?” Sam asked, turning to him with an unimpressed look on his face, though he had a small smile - smirk. Peter sputtered, mortified and soulless after his soul yeeted itself away from him. Ned squeaks.

****   
**   
** **Ned shakes his head before telling Peter that they have seen it before, just never with the skirt she was wearing. **

**  
**“I don’t remember that being a part of high school.” Steve said.

“It's been over seventy years, grandpa.” Tony quipped, Rhodey snorted.

“You watched girls?” Wanda sneered, looking at him with disgust. 

Peter hesitantly spoke up, “Do you ever see a cute animal, like a kitten, and feel like you could look at them forever?” Wanda was silent.

“I mean, aren't you the same with Vision?” Sam said. 

“You still have Vision?” Bruce asked, then continued with: “Wait- what do you mean she looks at him like Peter was?” 

“Wanda and Vision are together.” Steve answers.

Fury looks at Steve, then Wanda, “A robot and a witch are together? What is this, a romance novel?” 

“No, it’s Digorno!”

****   
**A girl passes by and greets Liz cheerfully.**

**Liz turns to the girl, waving her hand at her and greeting her back. The girl compliments Liz's work.**  
  
****  
**Peter speaks up, “We should probably stop staring before it gets creepy, though.”** ****

“Too late.” Abe says, laughing.

****   
**Michelle speaks up, telling the boys they were too late.** ****

“Congrats, you think like Michelle.”

“It is kind of creepy though.” 

“I don’t know, I think it’s cute. Peter looked like a puppy.”

****  
**Peter and Ned turned to see Michelle sitting at the other end of their table. “You guys are losers.”** ****  
****  
**Ned looked confused “But then, why do you sit with us?”** ****  
****  
**Michelle answered in a bored tone, “Because I don’t have any friends.” Peter and Ned looked more confused.** ****

“Mood.”

“Makes sense.” 

****  
**A poster was hung on the auditorium wall, it’s for the Academic Decathlon nationals in Washington D.C.. The Decathlon practice started and Liz was standing at a podium, reading the quiz cards. Ned, Charles, Abe, and Cindy were seated on the stage with placed in front of them.** ****

“Ooh, Decathlon, Spidey’s a nerd.” Sam teases. 

Peter looks at the man, “The fact that I made my own web fluid didn’t tell you that?” Peter hopes it comes across as a joke, and not him being rude. Sam laughs, which makes him feel relief. He laughs with the man.

****   
**Liz quizzes the team on what the heaviest naturally occurring element was.** ****

Tony settles back, moving his back against the seat, “This’ll be easy.”

**  
** **Charles spoke first, stating that hydrogen was the lightest. He paused,**

“Oh, kid.” Tony says. Snickers break out from the students on the Decathlon team.

**He, in an embarrassed tone, recognized that what he answered with was not the question and nodded his head. **

****  
**  
**The team laughs louder.

"Points for effort?" Mr. Harrington asks.

**Abe rang the bell, yelling out the element uranium. Cindy Moon, who was frantically searching the books, glared at Abe.**

“When you try your best but you don't succeed.” Sally sings in sympathy.

“Thank you, Sal’.” Cindy says.

“Of course.”

****  
****  
**Liz nodded, telling Abe he was correct and then she thanked the student. **  
****  
**Abe quietly pumped his fist in the air. **  
****  
**“Please open your books to page ten.”** ****  
**  
** **A few feet away, Peter was conversing with Mr. Harrington, the teacher who is in charge of the Decathlon team.**

“I remember this…” Mr. Harrington says. The other teachers look at the science teacher. Mr. Harrington looks back at them, “I think we’ll see.” He awkwardly points to the screen.

****  
**  
** **“Peter, it’s nationals. Is there no way you could take one weekend off?”**

Mr. Harrington sighs, facing down at his hands with a shake of his head.

****   
**   
** **Peter pleaded that he couldn't go to Washington, telling the teacher that he had to stay back just in case he was needed by Mr. Stark, he looked at his teacher and Decathlon coach with his puppy eyes.**

Tony looks back at the teen, “Kid. C’mon, don't miss Decathlon because of something that might not even happen.” The teachers look at Tony with appreciation and approval.

****   
**   
** **Flash spoke up from behind them, reading a book with his feet propped up in a chair. He mocked Peter, stating arrogantly that he had never been in the same room as Tony Stark.**

Tony stands up once more, waving at the screen, “Why is he on the team?!”. 

Flash winces, watching the large screen with regret. Liz quietly answers him, just loud enough for him to hear a few rows down, “He is smart enough to be on the team… And we couldn’t really kick him off because his family is rich.” Steve looks confused, so Liz explains, “His family - parents to be specific - apparently donate a lot to the school. He was kicked off once for bullying, but his parents bought his way back in.” 

“That is far from fair.” Steve says, annoyed. Flash looks down.

****   
****   
**Cindy looked over, asking what was happening.**

**  
** **Sally Avril, who was lying on her stomach and studying her notes, answers her that Peter wasn't going to Washington.**

Clint turns around and looks for Sally, then asks, “Why are you laying on the floor? There are a lot of chairs.” 

Sally looks at the archer, “Yeah, but the floor is right there.” 

Clint blinks once, twice, then hums and looks back at the screen.

****   
****   
**Cindy protested, panic in her voice. ** **Abe rung the bell beside her, asking why not.** ****

The team snickers at Abe’s use of the bell.

**Liz sounded disappointed when she asked, “Really? Right before nationals?”** ****

“Really? Right in front of my salad?” 

**  
** **“He already quit marching band and robotics lab.”**

The adults in the room snicker softly. A student pipes up, “Ooh! Michelle has a crush!” Michelle slowly turns to the student with a glare, shutting them up.****  
****

  
**Everyone looked at Michelle, who was leaning on the wall with a book, with a suspicious look on their faces. Michelle quickly added: “I’m not obsessed with him. Just very observant.”** ****

“Sure, Jan.” Another kid quips. Most of the students laugh, Michelle and Peter blushing in mortification and embarrassment.

“I don’t get why a girl and a boy can’t just be friends.” Michelle groans in annoyance, Peter nods in agreement. 

Clint and Natasha, and Steve and Wanda turn to look at everyone with an unimpressed face. Tony is laughing like a proper dad.

**   
** **Liz told Flash that he was substituting for Peter. The arrogant teen sarcastically apologizes, telling the girl that he had to check and make sure that the date wouldn't interrupt his date with the Black Widow.**

Natasha turns to Flash, “Oh? Do ya now?”

Flash silently wonders if death by embarrassment is possible, and hopes it is. “I’m sorry okay? I was a dick… I know that now.” He feels nearly overwhelmed by the mortification of being called out over and over again, and by his heroes no less. The boy he bullied was his hero, the person he idolized, and he could have beaten him to a bloody pulp anytime he wanted. 

If he was going to be honest now, finding out he was ‘Penis Parker’ did not change a thing; aside from making things awkward and also making him idolize him more. Spider-Man-slash-Peter-Parker was a high school student by day and a crime fighting superhero who could stop a bus by night.

“Do you?” A student asked harshly.

Flash nodded, “I-... I do, I swear.” He just couldn’t voice how he knows, only that he knew he was a dick.****  
****

**  
** **Abe rings the bell, “That is false.”**

Flash felt like that was a personal attack. The students laughed, one of them high-fiving Abe. Was he that bad?

“Yeah it is.” Natasha mumbled. The other Avengers made noises of agreement or amusement, ranging from snorts to hums.

******  
** **Mr. Harrington spoke loudly, asking what he previously told the students about using the bell for comedic purposes.******

“How many times has that happened?” Rhodey asks, voice singing with amusement.

“I’d like stories!” Tony adds. 

Mr. Harrington felt awed that the Avengers were talking to him - even if only two of them were. “Later?” He asks, hero worship making him feel embarrassed for an unexplainable reason. 

“Yeah, yeah, sure.” Tony nods.

****  
****  
**Peter turns to see the clock: it’s still 1:18 p.m.** ****  
**  
** **The screen shows quick glimpses of Peter fidgeting as he looks at the clock. Fingers drumming the desk, foot tapping on the floor until finally, the clock hits 2:45 p.m. and the school bell rings.**

“Geez, I didn’t know you liked being Spider-Man that much…” Tony mumbles.

His enhanced hearing picks up the mumble and he responds, “I like it more than school so…” 

“You shouldn't.” Steve says sternly.

Peter is quick to reply, “Yeah, you shouldn’t, but some people just aren't nice and school is boring.”

“School is designed to throw kids in factories once they graduate, what with the rows of desks, constant work, and lectures - which have shown to be quite ineffective for the majority of students. When kids are shown to have a different style of learning, or solve a problem in a way different from the teachers, they are yelled at and their work is failed.” Michelle educates. The teachers are silent in shock. 

“How can school be made better?” Principal Morita asks, as he genuinely cares for his students and just want them to live a good life. 

“By making it effective. School would be more effective if they eductated you in a fun way, instead of lecturing you and expecting everyone to memorise it all and then throw tons of paper to you. 

“Students are different, every single one of them are not the same, they all think differently than each other. Some lucky students may learn the way teachers teach, but I personally think that is rare.” Michelle ends. The entire room is silent, some students recording. Michelle notices that the movie had paused, as the ringing of a bell startles them all.

Peter decides to add in something of his own, “Also! If a student feels like he isn’t learning anything, they won’t be interested in school.” MJ nods,

”But, that doesn’t mean you should challenge every student, that causes breakdowns from all the pressure.”

**  
** **The bell barely stopped ringing before Peter reached the front steps of the building. Looking around to check if anyone’s watching him, he leaps over a fence taller than himself without touching it.**

“What the actual fuck.” Charles said in awe.

“How do you jump so high?” Bucky asks, looking at Peter. 

“Uh, spider bite.” 

“How does a spider turn an asthmatic into a superhero?” Sally asks, looking at Peter.

“A radioactive spider.” 

“Oh.”

  
****   
**Peter runs toward a deli and nods at a man sitting at the corner, greeting him.**

  
****  
**Peter enters Delmar's Deli-Grocery and heads towards the counter. He seems like he’s quite a regular at the store.** ****

“Oh! I love Delmar’s!” Cindy yells. “Sub Haven is my favourite, a lotta bread, y’know?” Charles says. “Too much bread.” Liz says. “I’m so sorry, I forgot you were here.”

“I don’t like Delmar’s” Tony pipes up.

Peter gasps, “Heathen!” 

“Subway is better.” A different student says.

“Subway is worse!”

“Delmar’s is a freaking Deli-Grocery!” Tony retorts.

“And it’s still better than Subway!”

“Things are heating up in the sub fandom huh?” 

"Yo, how much money do you have?" A student aks Peter.

"69 cents" Peter responds quickly, almost as if on instinct.

"Aye, you know what that means?"

"I don't have enough money for chicken nuggets." Peter cries.

**Peter greets Mr. Delmar at the counter, seeming more awake now that he wasn't in school.**  
  
** Mr. Delmar replies enthusiastically, “Hey, Mr. Parker. Number five, right?” **  
**  
** **Peter picks up jelly in a plastic bag and puts it on the counter. He asks for pickles and wonders if the man could flatten it, making a smushing gesture with his hands. **

“Smush it down?” Abe asks, looking slightly disturbed.

“Yeah.” 

**The deli clerk responds with a nod, going to make the sandwich.**  
  
**Mr. Delmar asks Peter how his aunt was doing. Peter looks at the man, replying that she was fine.**  
  
**Mr. Delmar turns to speak to his staff in Spanish, “La tía de é les una italiana muy bellissima. (His aunt is a very hot Italian woman.)”** (AN: I am merely taking the 'in Spanish' part from the script, I saw in a different fic I read on Wattpad that someone said it was Italian or something, so if I'm wrong, its not my fault the script said it was Spanish.)

“She is.” Tony agrees. Natasha hits his head.

“They didn’t lie.” Sam agrees with Tony and Mr. Delmar.

“Can you guys please stop, this is my aunt you're talking about.”

****  
**Deli Clerk responds with, “¿Ah, sí? (Oh, yeah?)”** ****  
**  
****Peter quips in the second language, asking how his daughter was.**

“Great Spanish!” His spanish teacher compliments.

“Thanks!” He says, embarrassed by the compliment. Ned is laughing loudly. 

“It’s not that funny, Ned.” “It kinda is.”

****  
**  
** **The deli staff hoots behind the counter, Delmar’s grin fades. Mr. Delmar makes a motion with his hand, asking for ten dollars.**

**Peter waves a hand, “It’s five dollars.” **

**Mr. Delmar isn’t budging, telling the boy that due to his comment, the price was bumped up to ten. **  
**  
** **Peter pouts, sagging as he said it was a joke. **

**He pulls out some cash from his wallet and hands it over to Delmar. Delmar takes the money with a grumpy look on his face. Peter ** **smiles, handing him a five.** ****

Tony laughs, “‘Here’s five dollars.’” May snorted.

****   
**Peter moves toward a fat cat lying on the counter and pets him, “What’s up, Murph? How you doing, buddy?” ‘Murph’ leans into Peters hand, quiet purring emitting from the fluffy cat.**

“Oh! I love that cat!” Cindy yells, leaning forward.

“Murph is such a good cat, I’d die for him.” Peter says with a nod.

“You almost did.” Ned says. 

“Exactly!” Peter replies. May sighed, rubbing her forehead.

Sam is concerned, “How did you almost die for him?” 

“We’ll see.”

  
**When he returns to collect his food, Mr. Delmar strikes up a conversation, asking how school was.**   
****

**   
** **Peter replied, school for him was boring, and he had better things to do. **

Principal Morita turned and looked at Peter. Peter stared back awkwardly. Ned turned to Peter. It was a staring triangle.

**** **Mr. Delmar discourages Peter to leave school, using himself as an example as to why he should stay in school. Peter disagreed, gesturing to the whole store that it was great where the older man was. Mr. Delmar declared that they had the best sandwiches in Queens.**

“He’s not wrong.” Clint pipes up.

“Subway is better.”

“Heathen.”****  
****

  
**Mr. Delmar hands Peter his sandwich.** ****

**Peter leaves the store, running across the street with a bag of sandwich in his hand. **

“Why are you running?” A student asks Peter.

Peter simply answered, “I’m Spider-Man.” The student nodded as if it answered anything, which it technically did.

“That doesn’t answer anything.” Clint disagreed.

“It does.” Clint was silent as he stared at Peter, then just shook his head and turned away.

**He passes under an elevated train track, holding up his palm at a cab that honks at him, **

“You seem to have forgotten your Street Smarts.” A student told Peter. 

“Yeah,” Steve agreed. All the students were silent as they stared at Steve. “You have to look both ways.” The students all collectively ‘ah’. 

“Street Smarts!” The adults, especially Steve, all stared at the students, who were all laughing uncontrollably, confused.

**Peter runs into an alley. **

“Why are you in an alley?”

“I’m Spider-Man.” Peter decided that that would be his answer to anything Spider-Man related.

**He takes off his shoes and throws them aside. **

“Wh- wait, lemme guess, it’s ‘cause you’re Spider-Man.”

“Yep!”

“Do you do this everyday?”

“Yeah.” The student was silent, then they asked, “How many times have you lost your clothes?” 

Everyone watched the two, watching as Peter was silent with embarrassment. “I-... Yeah, I've lost my clothes a few times.”

”oof“

”Thanks.”

**  
** **Peter opens his backpack and pulls out a red and blue Spider-Man suit. **

“It looks like a bed sheet.” Natasha deadpans, looking at the wet paper towel looking suit with an unimpressed raise of her eyebrows.

“Hey!” Tony yelled, turning to the spy with wide-eyed-offence. “I made that!” He pouts slightly. 

“Still looks like a bed sheet.” Natasha shook her head.

“Spies are so rude these days…” Tony muttered jokingly.

**He knocks over a garbage can as he awkwardly takes off his pants. **

“Peter…” May says quietly. Peter mumbled back, “I know…”

**Peter yanks off his shirt and sweater.**

“Holy shit!” Erupted some students.

“I thought you were a noodle!” A teen confessed loudly. 

“I still can’t believe you got all that from a spider, bro.” Ned told him, looking at Peter with an impressed look on his face. 

“You couldn’t even do a push-up and yet you had all that under your shirt…” Coach Wilson shook his head in disbelief.

“I’m a good actor?” Peter spoke in an awkward tone.

**He then steps into his suit, wearing only his boxers. Jumping, he pulls the full-body suit up over his legs. Peter fits his arms in the sleeves, then puts on the mask, which covers his entire head. The baggy suit hangs loosely over his slender frame.**

“It looks like a ghost costume, but the maker couldn't find any white sheets of fabric.” A teen apprised. Peter couldn’t decide whether to agree or be offended on behalf of his beloved suit.

****  
**  
** **Peter aims his web-shooters at his backpack and webs it against a dumpster. He then hits the spider emblem on his chest, the material shrinks, fitting him snugly.**

“Thats how it works!”  
  
“Peter, you’ve been webbing you backpacks to dumpsters?” May asked rhetorically in a stern voice. Peter is silent. “Why couldn’t you have just left it on the roof of some building?”

Peter was still silent as he contemplated this. 

“Just because I’m smart doesn’t mean I’m not dumb.”

"I like your suit."

“Thanks I stole them from the president.” Peter feels himself die quickly but painfully and wishes the Avengers failed in two-thousand-twelve, or in two-thousand-fifteen. Maybe the 2012 Apocalypse - if it wasn’t the aliens invading, no one is sure if those two are connected - should have happened. 

He hears someone wheeze like they are in pain. “I’m sorry.” Peter says, his head in his hands and the balls of his hands digging into his closed eyes.

“You should be.”

“Why?”

  
“I don’t know!” He cries, throwing his head up. “It just happened.”

  
**  
** **He pushed a button on his web-shooter, activating some hologram displays. **

“Woah..” Many students said intelligently.

**Peter tilts his head, adjusting the lenses on his mask, and jumps onto the roof of a building.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the bank robbery scene is in the next chapter!


	4. “I think he larbs you.”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Is ‘wittiness’ even a word?”
> 
> Betty quickly picked up her phone, “According to Google it is!”
> 
> “Nice.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hnnnng hope you like *thumbs up* :)

**“Blizkrieg Bop” by Ramones starts to play as he leaps across roofs with his sandwich bag in hand. **

“Ooh, good song.” 

“How do you jump that high?” A student queries. 

“Enhanced strength, that's how I got all my muscles.” 

“Like Steve?” Natasha asks. 

Peter thinks for a moment, tilting his head as he looks at the ceiling. “I mean I guess?”

“I got my strength from an experiment, you said you got yours from a spider?” Steve looks at Peter with an open gaze. “A spider that was experimented on, yeah.” Peter agrees.

Steve nods, “So basically the same thing… Kinda.” 

“How much can you lift?” Bruce tilts his head. 

“Uh- A lot, a few tons. More?” Peter lifted a building off himself, buildings don’t weigh as little as a feather.

“A few tons?” Steve asked in astonishment. 

“Yeah?” Peter answered-slash-asked. 

“I can lift around three tons.” Steve told him. 

Peter raised his eyebrows, impressed. “What’s your max?” Steve asked him. 

Peter thought back to the homecoming-fiasco. Buildings definitely weigh more than three tons, “I don’t know… But, uh, more than that maybe?” The room was silent. Noodle Parker was stronger than Captain America.

“When did you learn that you were stronger than Captain America?” Tony asked sternly with a hint of protectiveness. 

“We’ll see…”

**Crouching down on a ledge, he looks down at the streets and sighs in relief at his freedom. ****  
** **  
** **A bicycle chain is broken by a thief who rides the stolen bike down a sidewalk, pushing people rudely off the street. **

**Peter swings after him, and lands in front of him, he holds out one end of a strand of web. “Hey, could you hold this for a second? Thanks.”** **  
** **  
** **The thief looks down at his hand, and Peter uses his momentary distraction to glue him to the web. Peter lets go and the thief is pulled into the air with a yelp. **

There are scattered snorts of amusement, same for laughter.

**The thief still dangling above him, Peter holds up the bike and searches for its owner.** **He shouts out to all the people if anyone owned the bike.** **  
** **  
** **A man comes out of a store next to Peter. “Hey, buddy, is this your bike?”** **Man answers back that he has no change. ****Peter shouts out into the crowded void if anyone har a pen, while miming a pen. ****  
** **  
** **On the handle of the bike, Peter left a note saying: ** ** _“IS THIS YOUR BIKE? IF NOT, DON’T STEAL IT! SPIDER-MAN.”_ **

“Kid, you’re precious.” Tony tells him fondly, a small smile adorning his face, his eyes crinkled slightly. 

“No, I’m not.” Peter responds instantly, 

“Yes, you are.” May corrects him.

“I am not precious!” Peter protests, his hand curling into a fist and lightly slamming down on the arm of his chair, whispering an apology to the chair when he dents the arm of it. He hears snickers from around the room.

May starts to tease him, “Yes, you are a mighty spider-” “Ling.” Tony adds in. Peter glares childishly at both of them, his cheeks puffed slightly. May and Tony laugh together. The ‘together’ part terrifies him. May has a near infinite amount of embarrassing stories, and Tony has hours of embarrassing Spider-Man stores.

**  
** **Peter swings by a train station and strikes a quick pose as he flies by the window, whooping as he passes. He shouts a quick question on if everyome in the building was good.****  
**

“You’re a loser.” MJ says. 

“Thank you.” 

“No problem.”

“Is that just a thing you two do?” Tony asks, head tilted and his middle and pointer finger pointing at them both. The two teens nod. “Oh.” Tony chuckles lightly.

**  
** **He then rides on top of a subway car, seeming to be reading something on his phone.** **  
  
**

“Are you on Twitter?” Flash asks him. 

“Yes, I also know of your Spider-Man forum, Tumblr, and multiple fan accounts.” Flash looks like his life flashed before his eyes. Hah.

“Wait- his what?” A student asks him, turning to him in interest. 

“I don’t know if they’re all Flash’s, if they’re co-owned, or if he was just sharing them on his accounts. But I do know they exist. I also know of the thirst tweets, obviously.” A few sputter, gasp, or quietly scream into their hand(s) in embarrassment. 

“The what tweets?” Sam asks, eyebrows furrowed. 

“Thirst tweets are tweets someone posts on Twitter that are usually - well, only dirty.” Wanda answers, voice nearly flat as she speaks. 

“Uh.” Clint shows a comprehensive understanding of thirst tweets.

“They are usually along the line of… Wanting me to shove my fist up their, well, anything.” Tony says, voice level rising and falling as he talks with a tone of sarcasm. 

“What the fuck.” Bucky says.

“I’ve seen thirst tweets about me.” Tony says. 

“We all have.” Peter informs him, looking at him with eyes that have seen many things on Twitter. Especially Tumblr, Peter shivers. So much art. Too much dirty fanart.

**  
** **Peter slowly stands up on the edge of a building, the American flag billowing in the wind patriotically behind him. You could almost hear an eagle screeching in the distance.**

“Captain Spider of America.” 

“Patriotic Spider.” 

“America Spider.” Peter watches as people make patriotic names for him in confusion. 

“We stan the new Captain America.” Someone says.

** A man suddenly calls out: “Hey! You’re that spider guy on YouTube, right?” ** **  
** **  
** **Peter shouts down to the man to call him 'Spider-Man'****  
** **  
** **“Okay, Spider-Man. Do a flip!”** **  
** **  
** **Peter does a backflip on the roof, holding his arms out in confidence when he stands.**

Nearly everyone cheers as he flips. Some yell, “_ Yeah _!”, “Nice.” or just shout.

“That’s dangerous.” May says. 

“If I fall, I can just shoot a web.” Peter counters.**  
** **  
** **The street vendor cheers.**

“That was wholesome.”

**  
** **  
** **A man holding a boombox compliments him on his flip.****  
** ****

**  
** **Peter is swinging down from rooftops and whooping in excitement, and in another moment, he is giving directions to an old woman. Peter also practices his tightrope skills on a strand of web suspended between a building and a water tank, doing a flip on it.**

“I just had a heart attack.” 

“Same.” May and Tony converse. 

“We should meet up sometime, and tell each other stories of how Peter gives us grey hairs.” Tony looks at May with a friendly expression. 

May smiles, “We should, shouldn’t we?” 

“May please don’t give him embarrassing pictures of me…” Peter signs a deathwish. 

“Well, now I have to.” She tells him.

“_ May _!” Peter shouts.

“Ooh, how many do you have?” Tony is obviously interested, his body facing her. 

“I have a whole folder on my phone, so, a lot.” She laughs. 

“Ned, please save me.” Peter begs to his friend, latching both hands on his friend’s arm.

“You should have seen Peter’s costume a few years ago,” The two adults talk while Peter slowly falls into the void of despair.

“Fatherhood suits you, Tony. Who would've thought?” Clint interrupts. Tony looks at him confused, 

“Huh?” 

“The only thing stopping from you two sounding like father and son is the fact that he calls you ‘Mr. Stark’.” Clint informs the metal-armoured hero.

“I’m not his dad. I’m his mentor.” Tony denies. 

“Uh-huh. Sure.” 

“Rhodey, help! This is slander!” Tony calls to his friend. 

“He’s not wrong, Tones.” Rhodey tilts his head, looking at his friend. 

Tony has his hand over his heart and his head tilted to the side in faux-betrayal. “I can’t believe you would betray me like this, Platypus.” Rhodey just laughs him off.**  
  
**

**A man tries to pry open a car door with a crowbar. Peter sees this, and jumps onto the roof of the car, he then uses his web to bang the man’s head on the car. The car starts to make loud beeping noises.**

“Ow, that must’ve hurt.”**  
** ****

**  
** **“Hey, buddy. Shouldn’t steal cars. It’s bad.”**

“Kid, if you are trying to sound intimidating, you are failing horribly.” Fury tells him. “Natasha, can you please teach him how to be intimidating?” Fury asks the spy. 

“Well, he needs it. Sure.” The ex-assassin agrees. 

“Thank you, Romanoff.”

“Ah, thanks Natasha!” Peter thanks the Avenger.

“Dude, you are gonna get training by the freaking Black Widow!” Ned quietly fanboys to his friend. “I know!” Peter fanboys back.

  
  
**Peter webs the man’s hand to the car and jumps off. The man shouts at him, “It’s my car, dumbass!”**

“Oh no!” Rhodey laughs. 

Peter pouts,“He was using a crowbar to open a car…” 

“Honest mistake.” Tony laughs with Rhodey.**  
** **  
** **An old woman, Marjorie, looks out from her window and started to shout at Peter. All hell breaks loose. “Hey! Shut that off!”** **  
** **  
** **Peter tries to defend himself.**

** The not-car-jacker yells to the woman, “Can you tell him it’s my car?”**

**** **The alarm is still going off.**

**  
** **A man opens his window. “I work at nights! Come on, dude!”** **  
** **  
** **An old man comes out from nowhere. “That’s not your car! That’s his car.”** **  
** **  
** **Peter flounders, wondering how he was supposed to know when the man was using a crowbar to open his door. He is waving his hands and is visibly lost.**

**  
** **Another man yells about the alarms going off every day. ****  
** **  
** **“Shut it off!” Many people are yelling in anger. **

“Oh you poor kid…” It sounds like everyone is laughing at Peter.

“How did it all go wrong so fast?!” Peter cries, his head falling back dramatically as laughter and angry shouts fill his enhanced ears. Ned pats his back as he laughs at him.

**An old, white-haired man wearing sunglasses, a mister Stan Lee, shouts at Peter. “Don’t make me come down there, you punk!”**

“I’ve seen that guy before!” 

“Yeah! Thor gave him some Asgardian alcohol and he had to be dragged out.” Steve recalls.

“No… He was at one of my Galas. Wait wasn’t he that Fed Ex guy-” ''Who called you ‘Tony Stank’? Yeah.” Rhodey and Tony talk.

“He what?” Clint laughs.

Rhodey starts to imitate him, “Are you ‘Tony Stank’?”  
**  
** **A woman yells to ‘Gary’, “Hey, Gary. How you doing?”** **  
** **  
** **“Marjorie, how are you? How’s your mother?” Gary yells back, grinning with white teeth and white hair.****  
  
**

“His name isn’t Gary…” Tony grumbles in confusion. 

“Then what is it?” Rhodey asks.

“Uh…” Tony answers eloquently.

**  
** **Later, Peter swings through an alley. His grip on his web slips, causing him to fall on his face.**

A few students burst out in shocked laughter, some covering their mouths in surprise.

“Oh my god!”

“Are you okay?” 

“Yeah-” Peter starts, then his movie counterpart answers for him,  
  
**“Ugh! I’m good, I’m good.”** **  
  
**

“How are you ‘good’ after that fall? You fell on your face.” Wanda asks, eyebrows raised. 

“Uh… I don’t know? I just.. Was?” Peter answers awkwardly, furrowing his brows as he thinks of all the times he was fine when a normal person wouldn’t be. “I think it's ‘cause I am enhanced that I am more durable. Like bones and how after you break them they are stronger.”

“So if I break all my bones over and over again they will become stronger than steel?” Ned asks him.

“Yeah!” Peter answers cheerfully.

“No!” Steve yells.

Rhodey joins in the conversation, “How is this relevant to you being fine after falling like that?”

“Kid could get shot and be ‘fine.’” Tony retorts. Peter once came into the Medbay after Karen told Tony he was shot three times, who of course forced him to come in.

There was a lot of blood but more awkward stuttering:_ “You don’t have to help me, Mr. Stark, I’m fine!” _

“I normally stitch myself, I’ve become quite good at it!” Peter is proud of his stitching abilities. 

“Normally?!” May shouts fearfully.**  
  
**

**The sun is setting, painting the sky in warm colours. Peter is sitting on a fire exit munching on his sandwich, he is high up as the tops of buildings are visible.** **  
  
**

“That’s so pretty!” 

“I need to draw this-! Shit, I don’t have my iPad...” 

“Imagine seeing that everyday…”

“Maybe I shouldn’t have sold Avengers Tower.” Tony says absentmindedly.

“You what-?!” Steve yells. Clint cuts Steve off, “That was our home!” 

“I literally paid for everything. Also, Clint, didn’t you have your own home?” Tony looks at the Rogues. Clint is thankful he didn’t tell everyone that he had a family.

“You shouldn’t have sold Avengers Tower.” Steve glares at Tony, anyone not acquainted with the ex-Avenger would have turned to stone, but Tony has been on the receiving end of it many times, he was immune.

Tony glares back. “It was legally my tower. Everything in there, mine. The beds, the rooms, the equipment I made. All mine.” 

“How ‘bout we deal with this later and just watch the movie?” Peter voices the thoughts of every other person in the room. The atmosphere, once lighthearted, is cold and uncomfortable. Steve snorts unhappily, but Tony just looks away.

  
**A voicemail plays, “You have reached the voicemail box of…” The phone changes to Happy’s voice, “Happy Hogan.”** **  
** **  
** **Peter starts speaking, he rambles into the phone on his daily report. He tells Happy about hownhe stopped a 'grand theft bicycle', but he couldn't find the owner so he left a note. “**

**Peter takes a bite of his sandwich, then continues: A lost, old, nice Dominican lady gave him a churro for helping her no longer be a lost, old, Dominican lady. Peted starts talking about how he feels like he could do more, and is wodering when the next mission is. He ends with telling the man to call him back, and that it's 'Peter. Parker' “**

“I don’t think he knows any other ‘Peter’ who would do all that, Kid.” Tony tries to lighten the suffocating air of the room. 

“You never know!” Peter counters, looking at Tony with his head tilted with a smile.

  
  
**Peter sighs as he hangs up his phone and then groans out, “Why would I tell him about the churro?” ** **  
  
**

“This is why everyone loves Spider-Man.”

“Now we know why; he's Gen Z, and therefore relatable.” 

**  
** **Suddenly, a warning signal flashes on his web-shooter. **

“Why is it blinking?” Cindy questions, turning to his friend.

“It means my web fluid is low.” Peter answers. Cindy nods, making an ‘ah’ sound.

**Peter ejects the cartridge, it shoots out and over the railing of the fire exit, **

“Oh no.” 

“That sucks.” 

“Rip.”

**He then scrambles to catch it, standing sideways off the fire escape. **

“Oh my god.” Sam gasps. “I’m still surprised about your buggy-ness.”

“I thought you got over it after I kicked your ass?” Peter jokes, smirking at the man. Sam raises an eyebrow, “You did not kick my ass, I kicked yours.”

“Is that why you were webbed to the ground?” Peter tilts his head. The air of the room was lighter.

“Still kicked your ass with Redwing.” Sam one-ups, tilting his head back. The others in the room watch interested as the two banter.

“That’s what that drone-thing was called?”

“Yeah he is.”

“Cool! Mines Droney.” Peter smiles like a puppy.

Tony nearly doubles over as he laughs. “You named it ‘Droney’?” 

“Uh-huh! He even helped me intimidate some guy, I think I did kinda well.” Peter reminices. “Well, I didn’t do well after, but…” He winces.

“Why not?”

“Uh… We’ll see. Probably. Most likely.”

**He places the tube on his belt, which holds other vials of web-fluid. He looks away and spots four men entering a closed bank.** **  
** **  
** **A robber - who will be dubbed ‘Robber 1’ - voices his excitement to see this 'thing.' ****  
  
**

“Oh no, it’s them.” Peter is not excited.

“Hey, wasn’t that-” Ned starts, then Peter interrupts him,

“Yeah…” 

“Oh no, it’s them.” Ned groans. “But I’m kinda excited to see how it happened, y’know?” 

Peter frowns at his friend. He almost got cut in half.

**   
** ** Peter seems excited, mumbling to himself about he finally has something good to do.** **   
  
**

“I don’t see how a bank robbery is ‘something good.’”

**  
** **Inside Queens Community Bank, one robber wearing a Hulk mask-**

“Oh, there’s Bruce.” Natasha jokes. 

“Y’know, if he needed money, he could have asked me.” Tony pipes up. “I could have given him a few million.” 

Natasha hums in disagreement, “Maybe he just needed some action in his life, the Bahamas got too boring I guess, so he wanted to rob a bank.” Natasha shrugs.

**-is cutting the ATM with a high tech weapon-slash-tool that has a glowing Chitauri energy core inside.**

“Woah, that’s how they did it?” Ned nerds out, eyes wide and jaw dropped. 

“Yep.”

“I can’t believe I had that in my backpack.” Ned purses his lips.

“You what?!” Mr. Harrington shouts, causing Ned to flinch.

“I did not have it in my backpack! Nope!”

Peter rushes to his friend's defense, “We will definitely see why he had it!” -or at least delays a shouting from his teacher

  
**Robber 1 pipes up, the high tech tools making robbery too easy. ** **  
** **  
****According to Robber 2, it was worth it, 'it' presumably being how much it costed. Robber 1 rushes the second Robber.** **  
** **  
** **Another robber - Robber 3 - uses another high tech device to grab and pull off the broken front of the ATM, suspending it in the air. Other robbers start to bag the cash.** **  
** **  
** **Robber 3 chuckles, pleased with their work. Robber 4 seems excited about what they accomplished, telling the others that they can hit five more places tonight.****  
** ****

"Ehhh..." Ned tilted his head side-to-side, disagreeing with them due to who saw them.

**Behind them, Peter silently comes through the door and awkwardly tries to strike a casual but cool-looking pose. Ironically, he stands in front of an Identity Theft poster.** **  
  
**

Peter snorts as he notices the Identity Theft poster, remembering the fight he had in the bank when he met the Not-Avengers.

“There are few times when I thought Spider-Man wasn’t cool. This is one of them.” Flash announces, watching as Peter tries to look cool and doing it as if he suddenly had two left feet. 

“I agree for once. Wow.” Ned informs his teammate, seemingly impressed that he agreed with Flash.

“I am literally right here.” Peter tells the two with a faux tone of offence.

**  
** **Peter clears his throat. “What’s up, guys?”**

“Kid-” Tony snorts, a hand resting above his mouth. The Avengers and Peter’s classmates make various sounds or motions of second-hand embarrassment or sympathy for the awkward teenage mutant spider. 

**Peter finishes by asking them if they forgot their PIN number.** **  
** **  
** **The robbers turn to him. Reveal that they are wearing cheap plastic masks of the Avengers. The Hulk, Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man.**

“Never thought I’d see the day Iron Man robs a bank.” Monica Warren jokes. 

“Hey, he’s going through some stuff. Leave him be.” Roger Harrington jokes back. 

There is a snort from the front. “All those punching bags Steve struck in half costs a lot, one time I heard my wallet crying.” Tony quips.

“Oh yeah?” Steve raises an eyebrow at Tony, an easy-going air connecting the two.

“Yeah, money doesn’t grow on trees and those things pile up y’know.” Tony smirked at the older-but-also-younger man.

“Coulda sworn I saw a money tree in the living room once.” Clint joins in, a lazy smile on his face as he gazes at the joking teammates.

Tony waves a hand, shaking his head. “No, no, that was just a gift from Pepper.” Tony jokingly retorts. The Avengers have a pleasant smile on their faces, relaxed in their seats.

**Peter mock-fanboys over the robbers, asking them in an excited voice what they were doing in the bank.. Peter shoots a web as one of the robbers loads his gun, he chucks it back and uses the weapon to hit Not-Iron Man and Not-Thor. He then proceeds to shove Not-Hulk away. He jumps onto the ceiling and then attaches his feet to Not-Thor and throws him into a wall.** **  
  
**

“Dude, have I ever told you how cool you are?” Ned tells him, eyes shining with awe.

“Didn’t you just tell me not even a minute ago that I wasn’t cool?” Peter jokes.

Ned stumbles. “Well- I will never get used to how cool you are in those videos…” 

Peter laughs awkwardly, the kind of awkward laugh you do when someone compliments you, “Thanks.” He smiles shyly.

  
**Peter quips that it was nice to meet Not-Thor and Not-Hulk, although he thought they would be more handsome in person, voice becoming a tone bit less perky.**

“Oh my god, it’s Thor!” A student jokes.

“Have you met Thor?” Ned asks his super-friend.

“I am meeting him right there.” Peter motions to the big screen.

“So you haven’t met him?”

“No…” Peter answers sadly, pouting.

“If Thor were here he’d go on a whole spiel about how offended he is, and that the mask does not capture the true hot godliness of him.” Tony pipes up. 

“We’ve all seen pictures of him. Has he ever worn a helmet?” Peter asks the Avengers. They all shake their heads,

“No, I’ve never seen him wear a helmet like that.” Steve answers.

“Then why is he wearing one in that ugly mask?” Clint asks. 

“Who knows.” Steve replies.

  
**  
** **Peter is hanging upside down from the ceiling when Not-Iron Man starts to throw aimless punches at him. ** **  
******

**Peter is dripping with sarcasm as he asks what Not-Iron Man is doing robbing a bank, telling the not-celebrity that he was a billionaire.** **  
  
**

“Those punching bags…” Tony shakes his head. Steve bursts out laughing, hand resting over his left breast. Tony looks surprised at Steve's reaction, “I didn’t know you found me so funny, Cap. I’m flattered.”

“Are punching bags gonna be your always?” Natasha says with an amused smile. Tony lets out a surprised snort. Steve replaced quick laughter with heavy blushing and stuttering.

  
**Not-Hulk holds up a high tech weapon. Peter quickly steers from a punch from Not-Iron Man, who loses his footing and ends up punching Not-Hulk instead. They both fall to the ground. Meanwhile, Not-Captain America succeeds in picking up the high tech device that had been used to pull the metal chunk off the ATM and aims it at the Spiderling. **

**Peter jumps at him but is suspended in the air for a short time. His voice is all distorted when he says: “** ** _Hey_ ** **! Oh, this feels so weird.”**

**  
**“Woah! That looks fun.” One of Peters many classmates voices. Peter looks at the teen oddly, eyebrows pinched.

“Uh, well, um-, it wasn’t.”

**Peter is thrown against a wall, wondering to himself what that tool was. ** **   
**

“I can’t believe anti-gravity guns exist and _ I _ wasn’t the one that made it…” Tony sounds disappointed as he shakes his head.

**  
** **He is once more caught in the force field of the device and is thrown back and forth between the ceiling and the floor.**

“Oh god, were you okay?” Wanda asks. After a long time of being quiet, her voice startles Peter.

“Yeah, I guess?” Peter shrugs his shoulders in nonchalance. A rib was cracked and his chest and back were heavily bruised but he was fine, mostly. “Only some bruises.” He lies like a lying liar.

“Sure.” May doesn’t believe him. She is a nurse and therefor not stupid. 

  
**Peter is known for being a witty superhero-slash-vigilante, “I’m starting-” ** ** _Slam!_ ** ** “-to think-” ** ** _Slam!_ ** ** “-you’re not-” ** ** _Slam!_ ** ** ”-the Avengers!” ** ** _Slam!_ ** ** _  
  
_ **

“Oh my god, kid…” Tony sinks his head into his left hand, fingers rubbing the corners of his eyes.

“One day, your wittiness is gonna get you killed.” Rhodey informes the human-arachnid hero. Peter seems to contemplate what he said,

“Is ‘wittiness’ even a word?” 

Betty quickly picked up her phone, “According to Google it is!”

“Nice.”

**  
** **Peter grabs onto the ground with his spider-acquired stickiness and with another hand, he shoots a web at a desk in the corner. He tugs on it and hits Not-Captain America with the force field device.** **  
  
**

“Yes!” Ned cheers for his friend.

**  
** **Mr. Delmar, from his deli across the street, he is watching the attempted bank robbery; there is money flying everywhere, Spider-Man jumping off walls, the Not-Avengers trying to fight him.** **  
** **  
** **He picks up a phone and a 911 Operator answers him, asking what his emergency was. ** **  
** **  
** **Mr. Delmar speaks in a disbelieving voice, informing the operator that Spider-Man was fighting the Avengers in the bank in front of him, on 21st street. ****  
  
**

The Avengers laugh amongst themselves at the old man's words.

“Not my first time fighting the Avengers.” Peter jokes.

Mr. Harrington flinches and then sighs.

**Back in the bank, Peter talks to the Not-Avengers. It was time to wrap their fight up since it was a school night. ** **  
  
**

“I can’t believe you do this on school nights…” Principal Morita shakes his head sadly.

“Crime doesn’t stop just because it’s a school night.” Peter tells his principal, looking at the man. Principal Mortia frowns.

  
**Peter kicks Not-Thor into a glass wall, making it crack. Not-Iron Man picks up the force field device, but before he can do anything, Peter webs the device against the glass, jumps onto Not-Iron Man, and pulls back his mask to see his face.** **  
** **  
** **Peter asks the Not-Avengers where they got their tech. ** **  
** **  
** **Not-Hulk fires up the device that cuts through metal.** **  
******

**Peter screams at the robber in his panic to 'wait'. Peter quickly pulls Not-Iron Man and himself out of the way. **

“Even though he robbed a bank you still saved him?” Sam asks the hero, looking at him appreciatively. 

“Of course! Why would I let him die?” Peter turns to the older man, 

**The plasma blast cuts through walls and hits Mr. Delmar’s store across the street. The deli-grocery bursts into flames, exploding with fire and debris.** **  
  
**

Shouts of shock erupt from the viewers, jumping back in surprise as the store explodes.

**  
** **“Mr. Delmar.” Peter breathes, shocked. His suits mechanical eyes widen in shock. Peter quickly runs into the decimated store, pace faster than the normal persons.** **  
  
**

“I know what just happened sucked but you run fast.” A student notices. Coach Wilson nods in acknowledgment. 

“Well, I am enhanced.” Peter agrees, shrugging hesitantly as he remembers this fight.

  
**The store is covered in dust and debris, shelves toppled and smoke making it hard to see. Peter shouts for the older man. He jumps over the counter easily, scanning the area around him and running into the back. ****  
** **  
** **Once he finds the man, he helps Mr. Delmar out of the burning building, the man wheezing and coughing but alive. Murph the cat is safe in Peter’s arms, too.**

“I hadn’t even thought of the cat…” Abe realises, eyes widening in shock and slight guilt. A few other students nod shortly, as they too were too busy watching and worrying for the man.

“Was Mr. Delmar alright?” Cindy asks, looking at Peter with concern for Mr. Delmar. 

Peter nods, “He was alright, only mild burns, some glass in his skin, and his lungs has some smoke and stuff in it.”

Cindy pinches her brows, looking like she disagrees. Sounds of concern and disagreement arise from the crowd. “That doesn’t sound ‘alright’…” 

Peter purses his lips and draws up his shoulders, “Well… He lived, and he didn’t go into a coma, so…” He shrugs his shoulders.

“We have to remember that Peter is enhanced and sometimes has a different sense of ‘okay’ or ‘fine’.” Mr. Harrington tries to help. Mumbles of ‘yeah’s and ‘true’s are heard. Peter feels slightly alienated.

** Peter turns to the bank, only to find it empty. The robbers have escaped.** **  
  
**

“Oh no.” Many students frown.

“I hate when that happens.” Clint says. Steve, Natasha, Tony, Sam,- All of the Avengers nod their head and agree.

“This has happened to you guys?” Peter asks incredulously, looking at the heroes.

“Well, yeah. You fight some bad guys, the bad guys end up hurting innocents, you go to save them and you turn your back for five seconds and the bad guys are gone. It’s happened quite a few times.” Steve answers the spider-themed hero. 

“It actually happened the first time I fought in the suit; I was helping this family get back together, and one of the men attacking them - he was part of the Ten Rings,” Tony says the groups name venomously.

“The man tried calling for backup, but I grabbed him through the wall and left him for the families to get revenge.” Tony tells the tale of his first fight in the suit. 

“Then the Air Force attacked me.” Rhodey bursts out laughing.

“You took out a jet!” Rhodey yells at his friend, chuckling.

“It hit me! Therefore it took out itself.” Tony counters matter-of-factly.

Peter feels his heart well up, that he has gone through similar things as them. 

  
**The teen sags in disappointment, voicing his annoyance at the fact that the criminals ran. The pout could be heard as he stresses about his loss.** **  
** **  
** **The cat starts to meow and Peter seems to remember that he has a living ball of fluff in his arms. Peter hands Murph to Mr. Delmar, who thanks him as he cradles his almost-lost companion.****  
  
**

“Was the cat okay?” Betty asked Peter. Peter nodded, “Yeah, I hope so. Pretty sure Murph was okay.”

**  
** **Inside the Avengers Tower, Tony’s belongings are being packed up. Dum-E picks up an expensive-looking china vase.** **  
  
**

“Woah, what’s that robot?” A student asked, looking at Dum-E with awe in their eyes.

“That’s Dum-E, he is Tony’s bot. I’m pretty sure if he was human, he would be his adoptive child.” Rhodey answers. “I remember when you were building him back in MIT. You’d wake me up yelling at Dum-E.” Rhodey reminices.

“I’s not my fault Dum-E couldn’t do the dishes.” Tony retorts. Rhodey snorts, shoulders shaking.

  
**Happy yells at Dum-E to put the pot down, telling the bot that it was worth more than the two of them. His phone starts ringing, he picks it up, not saying 'hello.'****  
** **  
** **Peter is shown running down a rooftop. He pants into the phone about how the craziest thing had just happened, guys armed with high tech weapons wefe robbing an ATM. Before he could contintue ****Happy interrupts him.****  
  
**

**The man tells Peter to calm down and take a breather, he had no time for ATM robberies.**

“I’m pretty sure that ‘ATM robbery’ wasn’t like his usual bust but go off I guess.” MJ deadpans.

“Maybe if Happy had listened to Peter the plane wouldn’t have crashed.” Ned joins in.

Tony just purses his lips, unsure of what to say.

**   
** **Peter tries to get the man to listen, but ** **Happy once again cuts him off. He didn't have time for the 'thoughtful notes' Peter leaves behind either. He has moving day to deal with, and everything has to be in the new place by next week.**

“What is it with adults and cutting kids off?” Charles groans, tossing his head back in annoyance. **  
**

MJ answers him, “They believe that a child's age determines how important what they are saying is, especially if you are a teenager, and then anything you are saying is either useless or lies.”

**  
** **Peter jumps onto another rooftop, and stops in his tracks. He stutters out a question, confused by the mention of moving, he asks the man who was moving, was Happy moving? ****  
** **  
****Tony sold Avengers Tower, it was all over the news. They were relocating to a facility upstate. Happy mentions that he hopes the cell service is much worse.****  
** **  
****Peter pouts, confused. What about him? ****  
** **  
** **It is Happy’s turn to be confused, wondering what Peter meant by that. The older man tilts his head, eyebrows furrowed.****  
** **  
** **Peter sits down on a streetlamp. He starts listing off what if's, what if Tony needed him, or if something big went down? He urges Happy to let him talk to Tony. ****  
** **  
** **Happy ignore his request, ordering the boy to just stay away from dangerous situations as he was respondsible for making sure Peter was responsible.****  
  
**

MJ is not impressed. “Well, you aren’t doing your job right, he almost died a few minutes ago. Which you would have known if you listened to him.” 

“Happy is just busy helping Mr. Stark move upstate.” Peter tells MJ, “He has a whole tower to pack up. I assume it’s not easy.” 

MJ turns to Peter, “He just said that it was his job to make sure you’re responsible, and yet he didn’t even listen to you when you were trying to warn him about guys with alien weapons.”

Peter has nothing to say, so he just shrugs.

  
**Peter leaps down into the alley he stashed his backpack in, saying he was responsible before invalidating that response by mumbling that his backpack was gone. **

“Maybe if you hadn’t used webs that dissolve after two hours, your backpack wouldn’t be gone.” May says, smiling at Peter.

Peter throws his head back dramatically.

  
**Happy is now standing inside an elevator. “That doesn’t sound responsible.”** **Peter sounds disappointed when he tells the man he would call him back.** **Happy just smiles sarcastically, the elevator door sliding close as he says, “Feel free not to.”** **  
  
**

“Stark, how much do you pay him?” Clint asks Tony, looking at the billionaire.

“Not enough, apparently.” Tony answers simply.

**  
** **The elevator doors slide close as Happy cuts the call. **

**Peter slides his mask back on and runs out the alley. Peter climbs up his apartment building, jumping by windows. He gently slides the top of his bedroom window open and peaks inside. **

“That’s creepy.” MJ says bluntly.

“I know.” Peter moans.

Flash pipes up, “Hey, did you ever look into the wrong apartment.” Everyone listens in quietly.

Peter is silent for a moment. “Absolutely not.” He lies. Some students laugh.

“So you did?” Ned snorts out, pursing his lips as he holds in laughter. Peter’s cheeks are red as he says, “Nope.” He is a liar.

The theatre sounds like a laugh-track, extended edition.

“I can’t beli- who was it?” Ned wheezes.

“No one.” Spider-Man is a lying liar who lies.

**Aunt May passes in front of his open door.**

“Oh- I remember this.” Peter throws his head back again, this time covering his face with his hands.

“Was this the night I found out you were Spider-Man?” Ned looks at the web-slinger, who nods. Ned laughs, “That sucks.”

“Thanks, bro.” Peter says sarcastically.  
  
**Peter climbs into the bedroom via his ceiling and closes the window with his foot. **

“Did you just close a window with your foot?” Abe asks. 

“Yeah, I did.” Peter’s voice is quiet yet high-pitched.

**He pulls off his mask, throws it away, and crawls across the ceiling. Trying to make no sound, he pushes the door close slowly, the door squeaking slightly.**

Ned is laughing quietly while Peter is slowly turning into a tomatoe.

**He hops down to the floor. There is a quiet ‘click’ as the door closes completely.** **  
  
**

Peter squeaks as he watches. 

**Peter turns around to find Ned sitting on his bed. Shocked, his mouth agape in raw awe. **

**The Lego Death Star crashes to the ground and breaks down into pieces.**

There is a loud burst of laughter like a balloon popping. “That's how it happened?!” Tony laughs out, voice cracking. He crosses his arms over his stomach as he keels over from laughter.

“I was expecting that kid to walk in an ally and find Peter changing or something.” Bucky says, chuckling lightly.

“The falling Death Star was just perfect.”  
  
**May yells out from the kitchen, wondering what that sound was.**

Coach Wilson laughs loudly, as do all the teachers and basically everyone in the theatre.

“‘Here Lies: Peter Parker. Cause of Death: Embarrassment. Two-thousand-one to two-thousand-eighteen.” Peter mutters.

  
**His voice cracks as he yells to May that it was nothing, bending down slightly and his arm raised.** **  
** **  
** **“You’re the Spider-Man. From YouTube.” **

**   
** **Peter hastily denies the correct statement.**

“You say that, but you’re wearing your suit.” Natasha smiles as she watches the movie.

“No I wasn't, you’re seeing things.” Peter instinctively denies.

  
  
**Peter presses the emblem on his chest. The suit becomes baggy and falls down from his body.**

Peter motions to the large screen.“See? Not wearing anything.” He tells Natasha, who snorts.

**  
** **Ned points to the ceiling, uttering that Peter was on the ceiling. ****  
** **  
** **“No, I wasn’t. Ned, what are you doing in my room?” He is the embodiment of panic it seems. He walks closer to the other teen.**

“Is your first line of defense really saying, ‘No, I wasn’t’?” Fury asks the vigilante, looking at him.

“No?” Peter says, sounding more like a question. He tilts his head.

Fury looks at Tony, seemingly unimpressed. “You let this untrained kid do heroic stuff?” 

Tony answers quickly, “I only gave him a suit, he was wearing sweatpants and a hoodie.” 

**Ned explains that May let him in, and that he said they were both going to finish the Death Star.****  
** **  
** **“You can’t just bust into my room!” Peter sounds like he is speaking before thinking, telling his friend he can't just burst into his room.****  
** **  
** **May opens the door, she waves a rag in front of her face to dissipate the smoke coming from the kitchen. “The turkey meatloaf recipe is a disaster. Let’s go to dinner. Thai? Ned, you want Thai?”** **  
  
**

“So that's why you two were acting so weird…” May nods to herself.

“How are you so unfazed?” Tony looks at May, impressed, then disgusted. “Oh god, what have you seen?!”

“I’m a nurse.” 

Tony wheezes.

  
**Ned wants Thai. ****  
** **  
** **Peter ignores the fact that Ned wants Thai, as Ned now had a thing to do.****  
** **  
** **Ned is a good bro. “A thing to do after.” If a bit awkward.** **  
** **  
****May nods. She waves a finger at Peter, who is only in his boxers, requesting that Peter should put on some clothes. Peter swipes a sweater and holds it over his crotch.** **  
  
**

“I have a lot of respect for you, Ms. Parker.” MJ tells the woman.

May smiles, “Thank you… MJ?” MJ nods. “Thank you, MJ.”

**  
** **May leaves and closes the door behind her.** **  
** **  
****Ned turns to his friend, resuming his shocked attitude, accurately assuming May doesn't know.****  
** **  
** **Peter puts on the sweater, then leans over to accentuate his words, whisper-shouting that nobody knew. He stands straight to explain, “I mean, Mr. Stark knows because he made my suit, but that’s it.”** **  
** **  
** **Ned whispers. “Tony Stark made you that? Are you an Avenger?”**

“No.” All the Avengers say.

“Aw…” Peter pouts. “Am I at least backup?”

Tony looks to Peter, “Once you turn eighteen… Maybe you’ll become backup.”

“But I’m Spider-Man, I have powers, why can’t I be backup?” Peter asks.

“Because you are a baby.” Tony explains.

Peter seems offended. “I’m fifteen!”

“Exactly.”

Peter frowns.

**   
** **Peter agrees with that question.** **   
  
**

“No.” Steve says.

**  
** **Ned takes a few steps back in shock, steadying himself on the bed.****  
  
**

“I can’t believe you lied to me.” Ned says, shaking his head dramatically.

“Mr. Stark recruited me, I thought I was an Avenger.” Peter shrugs.

  
**Peter pleads with Ned go keep his secret identity just that, a secret, and to not tell anybody as that is what a secret is meant for.****  
** **  
** **Ned is befuddled as to why this must be kept a secret. ** **  
  
**

“Why do you keep your identity a secret?” Principal Morita asks, looking at his student.

“If no one knows who I am, the people I care about can’t be hurt by my enemies. I expected to get enemies by being a superhero, everyone knows who the Avengers are, and they have enemies. Everyone knew who Iron Man was under the suit, and they targeted Happy back in… Two-thousand-thirteen?” Peter explained. Tony nods.

Principal Morita is saddened. Peter is a teenager, he shouldn’t have the responsibility he has as a superhero.

“What if I made an enemy, and he knew who I was, and he came to my school with a gun or a bomb or… I don’t know, anything.” Peter sighs. 

“You didn’t have to become a superhero.” Coach Wilson says seriously.

Peter stares at him, “I didn’t have to, and I didn’t… And then my uncle died.”

**“You know what she’s like. If she finds out people try and kill me every single night, she’s not going to let me do this anymore. Come on, Ned, please.” Peter begs his friend.** **  
******

**Ned nods, then goes off on how he doesnt think he could ever keep his identity a secret, it was the greatest thing that had ever happened to him. He fanboys.** **  
  
**

“Sorry.” Ned apologises. “I just didn’t understand.” 

Peter smiles at his friend, “Thanks, uh- it’s okay.” Ned smiles, then gently slaps his shoulder.

**  
** **Peter is a ball of anxiety. “Ned, May cannot know. I cannot do that to her right now, you know? I mean, everything that’s happened with her, I... Please.”** **  
** **  
** **Ned is quiet for a moment. He agrees quietly and seriously.****  
** **  
** **Peter looks at his friend solemnly, asking him to swear it.**

**** **  
** **“I swear.” He promises earnestly.** **  
  
**

**Peter thanks Ned with relief. ****Peter turns away, running his hands through his hair. He cannot believe this had happened to him. ****  
** **  
** **Ned breaks the serious mood, wondering if he can try the suit on. **

There is scattered laughter.**  
** ****

**  
****Peter denies.** **  
** **  
****Ned has many questions on how it works, is it magnetic? Is it strings he shoots, and how?.****  
  
**

“No, it’s a vacuum seal, that’s how it gets skin-tight. It was also made with highly durable fabric.” Tony answers.

“Yeah, it’s really durable. Sadly, it’s not waterproof.” Peter adds.

“Well, spiders don’t like water.” Tony tells him, though he is thinking of ways to make it waterproof. Maybe if he adds a waterproof polyester fabric onto the outer layer of the suit, it would make it waterproof?

“Spider crab.” Peter counters, raising his chin as he smiles. Tony raises an eyebrow at the teen,

“You’re a crab now?” He humours.

**  
** **Peter is done, he will tell Ned all about his suit and powers at school the next day. ****  
** **  
****Ned goes along with this, then looks confused. He's silent before asking how he does the vigilante work and the Stark Internship at the same time. **

Ned screws his eyes shut in embarrassment.

**  
** **  
** **Peter stares at his friend in astonishment, before informing him his Spider-Man stuff is the Stark Internship. ** **Ned gets a look of understanding as he 'oh's in a drawn out manner with a few nods. ****Peter ushers Ned out, leans on the door, and facepalms.** **  
** **  
** **Skip to Peter and May sitting at a small table at Prachya Thai and eating dinner. May tries to make Peter talk, but he looks distracted, pushing his food around.** **  
** **  
** **“What’s the matter? Thought you loved larb. It’s too larby? Not larby enough.’ She points her chopsticks at him, then laughs out, “How many times do I have to say ‘larb’ before you talk to me? You know I larb you.”**

“I larb you, too.” Peter and May laugh together.

**  
** **  
** **Peter half-lies, he was just stressed with his internship, it was a lot of work and he was tired. ****  
** **  
****May sympathizes, she didn't really like Tony Stark, saying he has Peter distracted and his head in the clouds all the time.****  
  
**

Tony gasps in mock offense, then looks at the woman, “I thought we had a connection, Ms. Parker.” He puts his hand over his heart.

“You aren’t as bad as I thought, I’ll admit.” May smiles at the mechanic, looking down at him because he is quite short.

Tony stick his nose up, “It’ll do.” He turns away and smiles.

**  
** **A news report on the television behind May catches Peter’s attention. It was a report on the destruction of Delmar's Sandwiches.****  
******

**May asks about Peter’s internship, what he's doing.****  
** **  
****The news anchor continues on about the explosion.****  
** **  
****May tells Peter to use his instincts. She becomes quiet as she turns to listen to the news reporter.** **  
** **  
** **The news anchor reports that Spider-Man stopped an ATM robbery. A photo of Peter exiting a porta potty is shown on the screen. **

Students laugh at the embarrassing image.

“That is my favourite picture.” A student informs Peter.

“I have it as my profile picture on Tumblr.”

“Why did they use that image…?” Peter frowns, putting his head in his hand.

**As the colourful vigilante tried to end their heist, his attempt was stopped by a powerful bast that set the bodega in flames. It was a miracle no one was harmed.****  
** **  
** **May turns back to Peter with a serious expression. “If you spot something like that happening, you turn and you run the other way.”**

May laughs.

“Oh, the irony.” MJ snickers.

  
**  
** **Peter nods, repeating 'yeah's as he processed it.**

“And yet you never did.” May says.

“Well I had to stop that ‘something like that’.” Peter tells his Aunt.

**  
** **  
****May sounds astonished that it was six blocks away from their apartment.** **  
** **  
** **Peter cuts her off, awkwardly asking for a new backpack.****  
** **  
** **May puts a finger to her ear, disbelief clear on her face as she asks him to repeat what he said.****  
** **  
** **Peter repeats, “I need a new backpack.”** **  
** **  
****May is in disbelief at the amount of backpacks he's blowing through, the new backpack will be his 5th.**

“Five?” Clint asks.

“Well, now we know how you go through so many backpacks…” Mr. Harrington says to himself. The teachers nod.

“Kid, I have to ask.” Sam turns to Peter, “Your webs dissolve right?” Peter nods. “Ok, so how did you think webbing it to a dumpster would keep your bag safe?” Peter is silent. Sam snorts.

  
  
**A waiter brings a new dish to their table, his eyes glued on May. “Sticky rice pudding.”** **  
** **  
** **May smiles at him, informing him that they didn't order the pudding.******

**The waiter explains to her it was on the house. The waiter winks, then leaves. **

Sam hoots, “Someone's tryna get some.”

**She turns to Peter after thanking the man with a bright smile, commenting on how that was nice of him. ****  
** **  
** **“I think he larbs you.” At Peter’s joke, May points at herself with an exaggerated look of surprise.** **  
** **  
  
**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok so before i posted this chapter it was 13411 words long and now its 20726 holy shit
> 
> UPDATE TUESDAY AUGUST 27:  
im back in school. it was the first day today and im exhausted (THE FIRST DAY AND IM ALREADY TIRED) so updates may- no, definitely will - be slow.. im sorry im so tired hhh


	5. “Oh my God, she’s crushing on Spider-Man.”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Three years ago I wondered where I’d be, now I’m in a theatre room with the Avengers, my classmates and teachers, and one of my classmates has just recently been revealed to be a superhero that just a few months ago saved my life…” Flash whispers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HOLY SHIT I AM SO SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT MY DEPRESSION IS COMING BACK, SCHOOL HAS STARTED (last week), AND IM ALWAYS TIRED  
ALSO NO I HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN ABOUT THIS I WRITE MORE ALMOST EVERY DAY  
ALSO SORRY THIS IS SO SHORT  
ALSO!!!  
small mix up at the beginning, i apparently already wrote that everyone learned of how peter got his powers from a spider bite in chapter 2&3

**The next morning, Peter and Ned are walking down the street, Peter carrying a large stack of thick books in his arms due to the fact that his backpack was stolen. “You got bit by a spider? Can it bite me? Well, it probably would’ve hurt, right? You know what? Whatever. Even if it did hurt, I’d let it bite me. Maybe. How much did it hurt?” Ned ranted** ****

Tony turned to Peter, “You got bit by a spider? That’s how you got your powers?” He questioned, he never before asked how the teen acquired his powers. He shouldn’t have interrupted him when they first met.

Peter nodded, “I went on a field trip to Oscorp, got bit by a spider. Later that day, I was very sick and thought I was dying-”

May cut Peter off. “I’m sorry,” She wasn’t. “You got bit by a spider and didn’t tell anyone? You thought you were dying… And you didn’t tell anyone?!” May glared at her nephew. A glare capable of leveling a large town.

Peter paled. “Yes.” He was incapable of lying. “Um-” He continued on with his story. “A few days later I woke up fine and with a six pack. But, I could hear the neighbours three apartments up, I could see for miles upon miles, I could see the dust and fine details of everything. I could hear a flies heartbeat. 

“My hands got stuck on my bed sheets, later, when I inspected my fingers, I found that they were like a spiders claws, that’s how I stick to stuff. I could do a push-up on the edge of a building with my pointer finger.” He wiggled his fingers, while at the same time flexing the microscopic claws on the tips of his fingers - though no one but him knows he’s doing that.

Everyone was silent.

“A push-up… With your pointer finger?” Coach Wilson asked, though it sounded more like a statement. Peter nodded. Coach Wilson shook his head into his hands. Mr. Harrington and Ms. Warren stared into nothing as they thought of how it was possible.

  
**Peter looked to his friend, features just barely contorted in judgement as he informs his friend that the spider was dead. ** ****

Many students booed.

“Aw, c’mon!” Someone yells.

**He ends the conversation, allowing for no more questions that would further it. Ned shrugs and looks ahead. His eyes go wide, letting out a breathy 'woah.'** ****

The booing stopped, everyone distracted from their disappointment as curiosity took over.

****  
**Ned and Peter stop short, examining Delmar’s Sandwiches. It is almost burnt down, the store name nearly indecipherable. Police tape and barricades encircle the shop, various officers and crime scene investigators are working around it.** ****

The room was nearly void of noise, people with enhanced hearing could only hear sounds of breathing, light gasps, and everyone's heartbeats. Everyone was staring shocked at the screen, it was easier to see the damage done in the daylight. Liz watched in horror, her dad made those weapons, sold those weapons, and that's the damage he knowingly caused. Sure, he wasn't the one to shoot and fire those weapons, but he wasn't like Tony Stark who made weapons for soldiers to defend the country and their selves. He made these things just for money, not caring who they went to. 

The damage done to the deli was shocking, as they all now realized how truly dangerous what Peter does is. Watching him fight the bad guys who have lasers and anti-gravity guns sounds and looks cool in the moment, but seeing the destruction and aftermath, seeing how Peter could have been burnt to a crisp. It makes them realize that almost every night their classmate nearly dies. He could have been burnt to ashes and no one would have known it was Peter under the mask, that it was him who was cremated, minus the ‘after a funeral’ part.

“You were there?” Liz's voice was quiet.

****  
**Ned softly quieries on if his friend was here last night, despite already knowing the answer. ****Peter cautiously observes the agents standing near the scene. **  
****  
**Ned hesitantly states that Peter could have died, staring at the scene with melancholic eyes. He could have lost his friend last night and wouldn’t have known until the news was screaming with pictures of his friend, ‘Peter Parker, a high school student, is Spider-Man!’, and ‘Spider-Man is Dead!’** ****

May looks at her nephew with a heartbroken gaze. She learned of his vigilante activities days after his homecoming party, of which she learned from the news he spent crashing a plane. She, like Ned, could have learned any day that he died from the news, it would have been headline news. Many people love Spider-Man, so it wouldn’t have been a quiet, small funeral like the one for Ben. Or, at least, there would have been two funerals, one for their very small family of one, and his small group of friends, and then a large borough-wide funeral. Spider-Man saves people everyday, even if it was just picking up a wallet or saving their life from a broken utility pole. 

****   
**The teens stare at the badly damaged building. Ned breaks the serious atmosphere, wondering if he lays eggs. ** ****

There is scattered laughter, many people too caught in the realization of the true danger Peter is in to actually or physically laugh.

****  
**“What? No.” Peter laughs at the absurd and anticlimactic suggestion.** ****  
**  
** **Skip to the middle of a chemistry lecture. A torch is blowing a liquid on the desk, both Peter and Ned are wearing safety glasses as-per the lab safety rules. Ned rolls over in his chair toward Peter, who is scribbling in his notebook, Ned asks him a question in a low voice, “Can you spit venom?” **

“Ooh can you?” Sam wonders quietly. Natasha purses her lips, contemplating the question,

“If he could spit venom I don’t think his mask would cover his mouth.” She says.

Sam hummed, “True.”  
  
**Peter denies Ned.**  
****  
**Ned asks him another question on if he can summon spiders in such a large quantity it can be considered an army. Just put in much more quicker, simpler terms.******

“Tic Tac could do that.” Sam declares, chuckling quietly to himself. There was no way Scott was lucky enough to jump on the backs of flying ants and not be able to summon them.

“‘Tic Tac’?” Rhodey looks at Sam, confused. 

“The guy who turned into a giant, Scott.” Sam answers. Rhodey nods, making an ‘ah’ sound.

Tony tilts his head, looking baffled, “He could summon an army of spiders?” HIs voice was slightly high with worry.

“Scared of spiders?” Clint teased, snorting.

“Too many legs!” Tony’s voice raised in volume, he drew up his arms then threw them down to exaggerate his point.

“I have two legs?” Peter stated, though it sounded like a question. Were too legs too many? Was he supposed to bounce on one leg, or chuck himself through Queens with his two arms? He imagined himself fighting robbers with only one leg and it was slightly disturbing.

No one acknowledged Peter. Sam shakes his head, “No, but he could summon an army of ants. I think that's why he is called ‘Ant-Man’.”

“That’s disgusting.” Tony declares, there are many sounds of agreement.

****   
**Suppressing a sigh, Peter looks up in an appearance of concentrating on the lecture then leans down again to take some notes. He denies Ned once more.**   
**   
** **A history teacher drones on about the Sokovia Accords in the front of the classroom.**

“That’s me!” The teacher yells. 

The Avengers collectively show varying signs of discomfort. The following month from when the Avengers - or the non-political members - were informed of the Accords was the worst month or four in the entire history of the team. Even counting Carol’s days as _ the _ Avenger, Fury thought. ****  
****  
**Over Peter’s shoulder, the camera angle shows the teacher droning on. Ned leans into frame and engages in a whispered conversation with Peter. How far can he shoot his webs?**

“It depends on wind speed, angle, and many other things.” Peter answers. “Like, for example, if I was on top of a plane, my web went about one or two feet then flew back.”

Tony looks at Peter, opens his mouth, but can’t figure out what to say. “On top of a plane?” He goes with the simple question. He is seriously worried about what the kid went through, he is famous for helping old ladies across the street or giving directions, and now he is crashing planes while on top of said planes.

Peter nods. “I think we’ll see that in this movie, so.”

  
**Peter whispers back that he did not know, and tells Ned to shut up. ** ****

“But you just said…?” Ned looks at Peter. 

“Well, when you asked me, I was busy taking notes.” Peter tells him. Ned nods, “True.”

**The teachers droning continues.** ****

**“If I was you, I would stand on the edge of a building and just shoot it as far as I could-”** ****

“That sounds really gross without context.” A girl tells Ned. Ned goes to counter her statement, then blushes and turns back to the screen.

“Get your mind out of the gutter, talking during class disrupts the lesson.” MJ demanded.

****  
**Peter’s voice rises slightly in volume as he orders Ned to shut up. A girl sitting in front of Peter and Ned turns around and shoots them an irritated glare.** ****  
****  
**A small, old television is set up beside Coach Wilson, the PE teacher, who is standing in front of all the students with a bored expression. ‘Captain America’s Fitness Challenge’ is playing on the screen. Captain America, clad in his famous uniform, was shown standing in a locker room that looks too fake to be real, he was smiling pleasantly. “Hi. I’m Captain America. Whether you’re in the classroom or on the battlefield…”** ****

“What-! I thought they stopped showing those?!” Steve freaks out in embarrassment. His body is tense with his shoulders raises slightly, and his face is flushed red in horrified embarrassment. 

“Wait-! Wait what is this?!” Clint grins, leaning on the edge of his seat. He looked at Steve then at Captain America, snickering.

Steve is bent over, his face in his hands as he slowly rots in embarrassment. “It’s nothing!”

“It doesn’t sound like nothing.” Bucky snickers, looking at his friend with a wide teasing grin.

“If you think this is funny, wait til you hear the Sex-Ed one.” Abe laughs. Many students make sounds of horror. Watching Captain America awkwardly put a condom on an unpeeled banana is quite disturbing, Peter didn’t see anyone eat a banana for a whole week.

“The what?!” Multiple Avengers shouted.

**  
** **The class is sitting in rows on the bleachers, watching Captain America give a speech on the screen. **

“If I’d known I’d have been in a movie that day, I would have tried to look better.” A student says, their friend on their right nods, while the one on the left simply says, “You could barely see anyone, I don’t think it matters.”

**The camera angle zooms in on Peter and Ned. Behind them, Michelle is completely engrossed in a book called ‘Of Human Bondage’.** ****  
****  
** Ned leans towards Peter, asking if he knew the star spangled man with a plan as well.** ****  
****  
**Peter confirms it, saying they met.******

“You stole my shield.” Steve looks at Peter,

“Finders keepers.” Peter replies. Clint snorts.

“It was in my hand!” Steve jokingly yells at him, voice light enough for anyone to tell it was playful.

“Yeah, I found it in your hand. Can I have it back now? The small dude that could turn really big stole it from me and gave it to you.” Peter asks, voice full of humour.

“Sorry, but no.” 

“Guess I’ll just have to find it again…” Peter shakes his head, pursing his lips in faux annoyance.

**  
** **Ned’s jaw drops further, his eyes widening.**

****  
**“...fitness can be the difference between success or failure.” PSA Captain America lectures.** ****  
****  
**Peter boasts that he stole his shield, smiling in pride. Ned’s jaw drops even more.** ****  
****  
****

“Oh my god, you stole his shield.”

“Three years ago I wondered where I’d be, now I’m in a theatre room with the Avengers, my classmates and teachers, and one of my classmates has just recently been revealed to be a superhero that just a few months ago saved my life…” Flash whispers.

“Oh my god, I'm in the same room as the Avengers.” It just now seems to sink in to students that they are in the same room as the Avengers. A student starts crying in fanboy.

****  
**Peter and Ned continue to watch the small television with their classmates. The camera angle shows PSA Captain America over Peters shoulder. PSA Captain America is heard saying, “Today, my good friend, your gym teacher…” Captain points to his right. Coach Wilson, who is apparently standing on the wrong side, waves his hand to the students.** ****

“Oh god, I was standing on the wrong side…” Coach Wilson shakes his head in embarrassment. Monica Warren pats his shoulder.

****  
**“...will be conducting the Captain America Fitness Challenge.”** ****

“That’s a thing?” Tony asks no one.

****  
**PSA Captain America raises his hand in a salute. The screen transitioned to ‘Station I: Sit-ups’.** ****  
****  
**Coach Wilson spoke up, thanking the man. He voiced the fact that he was pretty sure the guy was a war criminal, but he didn't really care. He had to show the class those videos, as it was required by state. He blows his whistle.** ****  
**  
** **The gym students are doing various exercises; some were climbing ropes, doing sit-ups or ab crunches, and push-ups. MJ is lying on a mat by herself and wielding her book like a weight, still immersed in its contents. **

“MJ is iconic, all she does is do school work and read while at the same time being terrifying. She makes sitting in a chair badass.” A student says.

**The camera moves across the gym, showing students doing sit-ups in pairs.** ****

**“Do Avengers have to pay taxes?” Ned queries if the Avengers had to . ** ****

“I’m their sugar daddy, though some have their own jobs and houses.” Tony answers.

"No?" Steve denies.

"You had an apartment and job with SHIELD."

****   
**Peter shushes Ned.**   
****   
**Ned is curious about what the Hulk smells like.** ****

“Sweat.” Natasha answers.

"How do you know?" Flash looks at Natasha with a confused but curious expression.

"We all know, Dash." Tony's response is mostly a sigh as he remembers that one time his armor failed when he was shot in the arc reactor point-blank. Hulk was there and helped him out of the armour and with the shooter. He will never get used to Hulk's nose-burning sweat smell.

****  
**Peter shushes him again.** ****  
****  
**Ned bets the mutate smells nice. **********

**Peter is annoyed but doesnt say it, whereas Ned continues voicing his every thought.**

“He hulks out during a fight.”

****  
**Peter orders Ned to be quiet. He doesn't say his secret identity could be outed. **  
****  
**“Is Captain America cool, or is he like a mean, old grandpa?”** ****

“Mean, old grandpa.” Tony answers again.

“Grumpy old man” Clint responds.

“‘Get off my lawn’ grandpa.” Sam replies.

Natasha adds in, “Patriotic uncle.” 

“He can’t cook.” Wanda mentions, an amused smile on her face.

“Wait, Captain America can’t cook?” Charles asks.

“He used to boil everything.” Sam says.

“We ate at a restaurant after the invasion in twenty-twelve, the shawarma surprised him. He lived during the Great Depression so who knows what he ate outside the war.”

Betty gasped, “Wait!” She turned to Steve, “You lived during the Great Depression!” She jumped up and ran to him. She cleared her throat, bouncing on her feet in excitement, “What was it like?” 

Steve stared at her, surprised. “Well, everyone was poor, there were soup lines where you got free soup. Have you ever had a mustard and cucumber soup?” Someone gagged. Betty looked at Steve with concealed disgust. Steve laughed, “Bucky and I once put sugar and milk on toast and called it dessert.” 

“That’s disgusting.” Tony told Steve, looking at him with his lips raised in disgust.

“Wait until you hear what the Howling Commandos and I ate during the war when we ran out of food.” Steve smirked, a breathy laugh coming out of his nose. Many people had their faces contorted in horror.

"Oh god, what did you eat?" Liz asked, unable to contain her curiosity. Steve and Bucky snickered, then grimaced.

  
**“Ned, just, shh, okay?”** ****

**The camera angle finally shows Peter lying on a mat and doing sit-ups. Ned is holding his legs in place for him. Ned asks him if he can be his 'guy in the chair.' ** ****

“That was when it all began…” Tony turned to him, confused. “Ever since then he’s been my guy in the chair.” Peter told him with a small smile.

****  
**Peter voices his confusion.**  
****  
**Ned started ranting, “Yeah. You know how there’s a guy with a headset telling the other guy where to go?” Peter’s face twists into a curious expression. He is still doing sit-ups suspiciously faster than any other student. “Like, like if you’re stuck in a burning building, I could tell you where to go. Because there’d be screens around me, and I could, you know, swivel around, and... ‘Cause I could be your guy in the chair.”** ****  
****  
**Peter denied Ned the chance since he believes he doesn't need one.** ****  
****  
**“Looking good, Parker.” The gym coach points at Peter as he walks by the mat, Peter glances at him, then frowns and takes a huffing breath, trying to look as if he is struggling with the exercise.** ****

“How did I not notice…” Coach Wilson shook his head.  
****  
****  
**On the bleachers, Liz is sitting with a group of friends, all of them playing 'F, Marry, Kill.' ****Betty chooses to 'F Thor', 'Marry Iron Man', and to kill the Hulk.** ****

“Why did I never think that I would be one of the people who people played ‘Fuck, Marry, Kill’ 

thought about.” Tony stared at the screen with a mostly blank face. 

  
**“Well, what about the Spider-Man?” Charles asked.** ****

Tony made a noise that sounded like a mix of a scream and a laugh, as did May.****

**Betty corrected him, it was just 'Spider-Man'. Peter and Ned both at the same time stop and turn to see Liz and her friends after the words ‘Spider-Man’ reaches their ears.** ****

**Liz sounded impressed as she questions them on if they saw the banks footage on YouTube. Peter’s eyes go wide.** ****

“That is every teenage boys dream, to have a girl they like to talk about them like that.” Sam chuckled.

  
“I was literally freaking out.” Peter gushed, face flushing. “And then they started talking about how she was crushing on me- but like… not me-me, the superhero me, who no-one knew the identity of.” Peter trailed off. Liz frowned, feeling guilty; though she couldn’t lie the fact that she ditched her during homecoming ruined the crush she had. Now she knows he did it to stop her dad from stealing from Iron Man… Dating him for her crush on Spider-Man, a hero in a suit, and not the hero under the suit would be really shitty.

****  
**Betty teased Liz that she was crushing for Spider-Man.**  
****  
**Charles joined in the teasing, “No way.”** ****  
****  
**Liz shrugs, maybe she was. She tells them this bashfully.**  
****  
**“Ugh, gross.” Betty starts,** ****  
****  
**Ned and Peter share a look of surprise at the turn of events, then look back at the group of friends, continuing their listening in on their conversation. “He’s probably like, thirty.” Betty finishes.** ****

“I am right here.” Peter jokingly acts offended, turning to Betty with an amused smile.

Betty laughs, “You wear a mask!”

  
**Charles sides with Betty, no one knew what he looks like, and he could potentially be seriously deformed. ** ****

“I have enhanced healing, all burns heal within a day or two.” Peter counters. Charles opens his mouth, but Peter cuts him off, “Even serious burns. I crashed a plane.” Charles grimaces.

  
**“I wouldn’t care. I would still love him for the person he is on the inside.” Liz blushes.** ****

Sam looks at Peter with a grin. Liz blushes, feeling embarrassed.

****   
**Ned interrupts the group in a loud voice, telling the whole gym that Peter knows Spider-Man. **

“Dating someone for who they know isn’t good.” Tony admonishes. 

“I was just trying to get him with his crush…” Ned fails to defend himself, starting to feel slightly guilty.

“Yes, but if they did get together and Liz didn’t like Peter for Peter, but the fact that he knew Spider-Man - because she didn’t know he was Spider-Man, well, that’s not good, that’s not any type of love. She would have been using him to get with Spider-Man.” Ned frowns a big frown, then looks at his friend,

“I’m sorry.” Peter smiled reassuringly,

“It’s ok, Ned, you knew I liked her and just wanted me to be happy, you didn’t consider… That.” Peter forgave him, putting a hand on his shoulder and shaking it slightly.

Ned smiles in thanks, then his eyes widen, “Wait- you two went to homecoming, are you-?!”

“I kinda ditched her…”

Sam jumped up, “You did what?! Why?” The other Avengers also ask ‘why?’

“I had a plane to crash.” Peter frowns in regret. Sam groans in sympathy,

“On your homecoming night?” Sam looks like he hopes Peter says he lied. Peter nods. “That sucks.” Peter nods in agreement again.

**  
** **Peter looks at Ned with his mouth comically agape. Everyone in the gym drops their assignments simultaneously and stares at Peter.**

“That looks like something straight out of a- wait.” A student starts, then looks like they are having an existential crisis.

“I feel bad, we all stared at him, all of us. That is something straight out of my nightmares…” A student watches the screen with guilt.

“Yeah, it was kinda terrifying, just having everyone staring at you.” Peter grimaces as he remembered the anxiety he felt.

**Peter hurriedly gets up and walks towards the bleachers, Ned scrambled to his feet to follow him. Peter stuttered as he walked, donning what Ned shouted. “**  
****  
**Flash slides down to the ground, abandoning the rope he was climbing.** ****  
****  
**Ned tried to help him out, stating that they were friends. He smiled in pride.** ****  
****

**Flash snorted, rhetorically asking if it was like Coach Wilson and Captain Americans relationship. Fake.** ****

Flash silently groans in his hand, feeling guilt. He always hated the bully’s in movies, and look who he was in both the movie and his classmate’s life. His classmate, who was Spider-Man.

****  
**“I’ve met him. Yeah. A couple times. But it’s, um... through the Stark internship. Mm-hmm.” Peter stutters, he turns to Ned, teeth tight, “Yeah, well. I’m not really supposed to talk about it.”** ****  
****  
**Flash continues bullying him, sarcastically saying it was awesome, then requesting if he could invite the hero-slash-vigilante to Liz's party. ******

“Why are you like that?” Clint glares at Flash, annoyed. Flash grimaced, looking at then looking away from the archer repeatedly, hunching down every time he glances at him. “Why?”

“I don’t know? He-... He just made it easy.” Flash looked down.

“That’s like kicking a puppy when you’re angry because you knew it wouldn’t be able to do more than nibble you shoes.”

****   
**Liz tried to end what was no doubt an awkward situation for her, she was having people over tonight. She tells Peter he's welcome to come. **

  
**Peter seemed surprise that he was invited.** ****  
****  
**Flash continues his douchery, telling Peter rudely that it was gonna be dope, and that he should totally invite his personal friend Spider-Man. **

****   
**Peter was obviously an English major by his two-letter response consisting of the letters 'U' and 'M.'**   
****

**Liz comes to Peter’s rescue, saving Peter from embarrassing himself even further. She reassures that it was okay, she knew Peter was way too busy for parties. Flash saunters closer and walks by Peter,** ****  
****  
**“Come on. He’ll be there. Right, Parker?”** ****

“Peak peer pressure.” Rhodey noticed.

Steve frowns, “Why didn't any you help him?” He stands and looks at all the students, his arms crossed and face looking incredibly disappointed. His face grows angry, “Where were you?” He looks at Coach Wilson, who looked horrified. “One of your students was being bullied, which is the leading cause of teen suicide in boys, and you did nothing to help him.” 

Tony looks at all the teachers, “Dash almost hit Peter with a car, did who knows what else, and you did nothing. Have you ever done anything to help? Or do you just let it happen because his daddy’s rich?”

Wanda looks at Tony, “Hypocrite.” Tony actually wasn’t being a hypocrite.

“I was actually bullied for most of the time I was in school, I was always the youngest y’know?” Tony started, 

Rhodey interrupted, “Remember that time I had to save you drunk ass from those kids who bullied you back in MIT?” Tony nods, then continues,

“I went to MIT when I was fifteen, so I’ve always been the youngest. In most of the years I was in school and college, teachers let me be bullied because I was smarter than them and corrected them when they got something wrong. Now,” He looked back at the teachers, “Pete and I don’t have similar experiences, he is with his age group in highschool, but Liz said his father pays the school, is that why you never helped him?” 

The teachers are silent. The principal looks away. Mr. Harrington breaks first, “I once reported bullying a few years ago, and I talked with his dad, he paid me and…” He shrugs. Steve growls, actually growls, he flexes his muscles for good measure.

“I’ll be talking with your dad later.” Tony looks at Flash angrily.

**  
** **The bell rings. **

Students and teachers jump in shock at the noise.

**Liz tilts her head towards Peter in good-bye as she exits the gym. Peter throws his hands up in frustration and spins to glare at Ned. “What are you doing?” He whisper-shouts as he walks to Ned.** ****

“Why, why did you do that?” Peter asked.

****  
**Ned answers in a hushed voice, “Helping you out. Did you not hear her? Liz has a crush on you.” Peter hesitates, searching for words. “Dude, you’re an Avenger. If any one of us has a chance with a senior girl, it’s you.” Ned walks away. Peter stands rooted in place, considering the idea.** **  
**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im sorry this is so short! i hope you like this <33333


	6. "Oh, I’m not here."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Peter jumps towards the van, finally close enough "Surprise!"]
> 
> The crowd cheers, feeling victorious as the web-slinger finally reaches the van. Tony jumps up, hands raised as he shouts a cheer. He turns to Peters seat, frowning when he's not there.
> 
> [Suddenly, the Vulture snatches Peter with his claws from behind.]
> 
> Peter flinches. The room screams in shock, the cheers of triumph becoming shocked cries and fear at the suddenness of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this ones a long one! 25 pages! (but its 7994 words)

**May drives Ned and Peter to Liz’s house, exciting music beating out from the house; party-goers strewn around the lawn, though most hanging out in the house. May slows her car and talks to the boys, she mentions how she is kind of jealous of them for going to a house party in the suburbs.** **   
  
**

“Ooh, you went to parties?” Tony turned around in interest, hoping to hear some wild stories. May laughed, throwing her head back, remembering funny memories of parties,

“One time, I was at a party with some friends, and someone turned down some music, ‘I have an announcement to make!’ The guy yelled. And then there was a scream. Someone brought a goat to the party!” She laughed with her full body, entire body rocking as she laughed.

Peter was silent as he processed the fact that a goat was at a party. He sputtered, “A goat?!” He spun to her, an incredulous look on his face.

May wheezed, falling over in her seat as she nodded like mad, her face was red.

**  
** **Ned has a huge grin on his face, he chirps that it will be a night to remember.****  
** **  
** **May laughs and turns to Ned. She compliments Ned on his hat, a smile on her face.** **  
  
**

“You do look really good wearing a hat.” A student mentioned, nodding their head. Ned smiled and a small laugh escaped his mouth as he thanked them.

**  
** **Ned chuckled, bashfully informing her that it gives him confidence. **

**   
** **May nodded in acknowledgement to what the boy said. Peter was looking out the window, not focusing on the conversation taking place beside him,**

**He turned to May, turning on his puppy eyes as he says(pleads) that it's a mistakd and he wants to go home. ** **   
  
**

“God you are such a mood.” A student declared. Many other students made noises or motions signalling their own agreement.

“Existence activates my fight or flight response.” a student voiced. There was laughter and shouts of ‘same!’

Principal Morita and all the other teachers were silent as they processed this. “Are you guys okay?” The principal asked worriedly.

“We’re gen-z, so no.” MJ answered.

**  
** **May felt pity as she looked at the anxious boy. “Oh, Peter. I know. I know it’s really hard trying to fit in with all the changes your body’s going through. It’s flowering now.”**

**  
** **Peter couldn’t help but chuckle at the unexpected and absurd speech.****  
** **  
** **May turns to Ned, a small frown on her face. She tells him that Peter has been so stressed out lately, her voice worried and confused.****  
** **  
****Ned declared that partying helps with stress, sounding sure of himself as he told Peter from the backseat.** **  
  
**

A student sputters in disbelief, “What?! Parties are so stressful! They are nearly the furthest thing from a de-stressing activity!”

“Parties are really fun though!” A student disagreed.

**  
****Peter opens the car door and steps out, mumbling to himself.****  
** **  
****Peter stops and listens in through the window when May calls his name. Ned gets out behind them. “Have fun, okay?”** **  
** **  
** **Peter nods, he will and he tells her this.****  
** **  
** **Mays voice got soft as she looked at her nephew, "Okay."****  
  
**

“God, what a good aunt. Can you become my aunt please?” A student asked pleadingly, looking at May. The woman blushed, flustered.

“Guess I have a niece now.” She said.

“Adopt me!” A student yelled, standing up and raising their hand. May laughed and said ‘sure!’

**  
****Ned waves his goodbye from outside the car, a huge grin on his face. Peter closes the door and jogs to him. Peter and Ned drew near to the house side-by-side. Ned asks Peter if he has the suit. ****  
** **  
** **Peter draws up his sleeve, giving Ned a glimpse of his Spider-Man suit underneath. ****  
  
**

Rhodey side-eyed Tony, one of his eyebrows raise. Tony looked at Rhodey with a mask on, ignoring the fact that something similar - as in, Tony and Peter both wore their suits to a party, Tony doubted Peter’s ended in house-destroying disaster - happened to both of them.

**  
** **Ned voiced his excitement, this party was gonna change their lives. The front door opens, and Peter walks into the crowded house. The duo glanced around anxiously, especially Peter, his nervousness visible. ** **  
** **  
** **Two girls passed by them, ignoring them.****  
  
**

“I walked by Spider-Man and I ignored him…” The girl put her head into her hands. Annie rubbed her back in comfort.

“You didn’t know I was Spider-Man, though.” Peter countered.

**  
** **  
** **  
** **Flash was shown behind a DJ station, pretentious in headphones and a yellow shirt. A male voice called through the speakers, “D-D-DJ Flash!”** **  
** **  
** **Ned voiced his plans. Spider-Man was gonna swing in, say they afe tight, and Ned is gonna get a fisg bump or a hug.****  
  
**

“That sounds like a bad plan.” Natasha deadpanned. Ned frowned, 

“I spent like ten minutes on it.” Ned admitted.

**  
** **MJ interrupted the duo, she couldn't believe they were at the 'lame' party. MJ carelessly throws her hair back, an attempt at seeming cool. She was in the process of spreading jam on a slice of toast when she interrupted the two.** **  
** **  
** **Ned was confused. But MJ was at the party too. ****  
** **  
****The woman countered, confusing him even more when she asked if she really was at the party.****  
  
**

“God, what a mood.” Someone said.

“I don’t get it.” Another person voiced their confusion.

“Michelle is physically there but not really. That’s how I see it.” A student answered.

Another confused person made the vocal sound of ‘???’. “Have you ever been in a place, but you were only physically there? As in you were mentally somewhere else?” There were a few ‘oh’s.

**  
** **There was a crunch as MJ took a bite out of the toast, she walked off. When Peter hears Liz’s voice, he turns his head towards the sound, his eyes widening. Liz walks down the hallway, approaching Peter and Ned. She greets the boys, and compliments Neds hat. ** **  
** **  
** **Ned greeted the party’s host.****  
** **  
****Peter’s voice was high and squeaky as he says 'Hi' to the girl, revealing his nervousness.** **  
  
**

“You are so gone for her.” Bucky stated. Peter sputtered.**  
** **  
** **Liz continued, she was very happy they came. She had pizza and drinks, and they were welcome to help themselves. ****  
** **  
****Peter spoke, congratulating Liz on the great party, his voice cracking.** **  
** **  
** **Liz smiled brightly, thanking him. Their attention was directed someplace else at the sound of glass breaking in the distance. Liz sounded sheepish as she apologised, her parents would kill her if anything broke. ****  
** **  
** **Peter was understanding. ****Liz told the duo to have fun. They said bye as Liz walked away.****  
****  
** **  
****Ned asked what Peter was doing, he had to 'Spider it up.' Peter repeatedly said 'no', Spider-Man wasn't a party trick, so he was just gonna be himself.****  
******

"Yeah." Rhodey nodded, then looked at Tony condescendingly. Tony looked back at him, face blank yet exasperated.****

"I was dying." Tony replied, deadpan.

**  
** **Ned sighs, “Peter, no one wants that.”** **  
  
**

There was silence, aside from sounds of offense. Tony looked at Ned incredulously, “Peter is a gem, anyone would be lucky to be with him.”

Ned looked sheepish, looking down at his hands, “Everyone has ignored him, ignored both of us. I only meant that if he wanted to get attention, he should be Spider-Man.”

Tony didn’t agree, “Or maybe he could have gotten attention by being himself, by going up to whoever he wanted to be with. You aren’t gonna get attention like that by doing nothing, you have to show interest.”

Ned was silent as he processed what Tony said. He nodded, a look of guilty realisation taking place of just guilt. 

“As you were told earlier, it would be bad - horrible - if someone was only with him because he was Spider-Man, not because he is Peter.” Sam communicated. Ned looked at Peter with a silent apology. Peter patted his hand on Neds shoulder.

“It was kind of hurtful but you weren’t wrong,” He shrugged, looking down with a small frown. “no one paid attention to me before. But Mr. Stark is also right, I could have just went up to Liz and told her ‘hey I like you’, which I did for homecoming.” 

“I-I’m sorry.” Ned apologised, voice heavy with guilt.

Peter smiled at him, “You knew I liked Liz and thought I should use Spider-Man to get with her,” Ned nodded. “You wanted me to be happy-” Ned nodded vigorously. “You just ignored the fact that it wouldn’t have been great if she was only with me because I was Spider-Man.” Peter summarised. Ned nodded again, slowly. He looked down in another silent apology.

“I’m sorry.” Ned apologised again.

“Thank you.”

**Peter starts to walk away, a little bit hurt by the remark.** **  
** **  
** **Flash yelled into a microphone, “Penis Parker, what’s up?” Flash plays a horn sound on the stereo system.** **  
  
**

Flash sighed into his hands, hating himself.

**  
** **“So, where’s your pal Spider-Man? Let me guess. In Canada with your imaginary girlfriend?” The horns were back, and everyone around them laughed except for Peter and Ned. It was something straight out of an introvert’s nightmares. “That’s not Spider-Man. That’s just Ned in a red shirt.” Flash has a shit-eating grin on his face. **

“When will you stop? Please?” Tony was upset. He turned to Flash.

“I’m sorry! I am! I know I was a dick and I promise I’ll try to be a better person.” Flash was drowning in guilt. “I’m sorry.” Apologising is hard, but for once he puts himself in another person's shoes. If someone acted like him to.. well, him, he’d want an apology.

“How about we lay off of Flash? He knows what he did is wrong and we can’t keep being a dick to him for what he did in the past.” Peter pleads in a calm voice. Flash looks seconds away from tears and looks as if he is drowning in guilt, he was shaking slightly as well and he doesn’t want Flash to have a panic attack, those sucked.

Flash looked at him with an expression of thankfulness when students and the Avengers agree to try not to be mean.

**Boos and chuckles rise from the crowd. Peter frowns, determined. A shirt is dropped onto the floor, joining a pair of jeans and shoes. The camera pans up, showing Peter is standing on a roof. He steps over his clothes and takes off his shirt. He is wearing his Spider-Man suit. He mutters to himself, and makes his voice sound odd as he speaks,**

**“Hey, what’s up? I’m Spider-Man. Just thought I’d swing by and say hello to my buddy Peter. Oh, what’s up, Ned? Hey, where’s Peter, anyways? He must be around…” Peter sighs, showing reluctance to jump into the crowd. He watches the party through the large glass windows which are basically just walls. This was stupid, what was he doing?**

**  
** **His eyes catch Ned awkwardly standing in the crowd, looking for him. Then there is an explosion, the cloud bright blue. He stands to attention, concerned.** **  
  
**

“What was that?” Someone asked.

“An explosion.” Another person answers.

“Well duh, but why?”

“Because someone wanted to explode something.” The other person is purposefully being difficult.

The ‘someone’ rolls their eyes, exasperated, “Why was there an explosion? What caused it? Why was it blue?!”

Ned gasps loudly, “That’s why you ditched me! Oh, that’s awesome.” Peter makes a sound of disagreement and shakes his hand in a motion that signals ‘not really’.

**His face contorts in confusion. Peter runs across the roof and pulls down his mask, he shoots a web through the trees and slings himself down the street.** **  
  
**

“Yeah! Go be a hero!”

**He landed on another roof, and runs down the tiles, he dents a drain pipe as he flips off the house. Then he seems to quickly remember a conversation with Ned and shoots a line of web over a vast golf course. It simply flies off, having nothing to attach itself to. **

“Oof.” Someone utters.

“That’s pretty far.” Bruce mentions, staring at the screen interested. Though, the wind definitely helped keep the webs in the air as they lost momentum. 

**The camera shows a wide shot of Peter running across the golf course, shouting at how it sucks. When the sprinklers are activated.**

There is laughter at Peter’s misfortune.

“Uh, kid. You can swing through forests or woods, right?” Rhodey asked.

Peter furrowed his brows at the unexpected question, he nodded, “Yeah, I guess. I’ve never done it though so it might be hard.”

“Why didn’t you swing thought the woods next to the golf course?” Rhodey questioned in confusion. Peter was silent, why didn’t he do that? He shrugged, not knowing how to verbally answer.

**  
** **There is a discarded car with scraps of metal ripped out from it beside a bridge, a blue ray zips through the air towards it. The car is blown up in a large explosion, making the shooter cringe. One of the men present hoots and laughs as there are bolts of electricity bursting from the explosion**

“Oh my god.”

"What was that?" 

Peter winced as he remembered what happened that night, the shower he took after was quick as he almost had a panic attack; he washed himself outside the shower by using soap, water, and a washcloth. 

A student looks closer, eyes pinching. "I think I know someone there." Peter looks at him in confusion.

**  
****Jackson Brice powers down the weapon. The fingers sticking out from the end of the gun curl in on themselves, forming a loose fist. Brice depowers the weapon, turning it off, the fingers on the end of the gun curl into a loose fist.** **  
  
**

There was silence for a short moment before someone broke it with a question, "... Why the fingers? Why? Why are there fingers on the end of the gun?"

"To look cool?" Another student hypothesises. 

The Avengers present during the Ultron fiasco stared at the hand-gun (get it?) uncomfortably. The world almost died that week and robots make a few of them unsettled now.

**   
** **The dealer informs them that it was created from a reclaimed sub-Ultron arm from Sokovia.**

The superhero team flinched.

**Brice hands the weapon to Aaron Davis, who took it but didn't seem to want it,** **  
  
**

"That's my uncle!" A teen shouts, shocked, then saddened.

"Your uncle sells alien weapons?" Another student asks.

"No, Aaron- the only guy who has the same skin-tone as me." The teen explains.

"That sucks, Miles." Another teen says.

**Aaron Davis only wanted a low-key weapon. He asked them why they were trying to upsell him. ** **   
  
**

"Why would someone need a weapon like that?" Mr. Harrington asked, confusion dripping from his voice like a waterfall after a monsoon rain storm.

**  
** **Behind the dealers and buyer, Peter soundlessly crawls down the side of the bridge.**

**  
**"Yay." Someone quietly cheers.

**  
** **Brice nods. They had tons of tools and weapons. Brice moves to his van and looks for other weapons, the van is packed full of many weapons. Hiding behind the bridge, Peter is shown watching as the deal happens, his suits eyes narrow.** **  
** **  
** "Oh my god, there's so many weapons-" **  
** **  
** **Brice started listing the weapons. They had a black hole grenade, he showed one off.**

"A what?! How can something like that exist?!" Tony interrupts Brice. 

A student shares his shock and incredibly, "Black holes are only created by massive stars collapsing in on themselves! If a grenade- which- … how? The grenade would have to be very powerful - obviously - and have to be incredibly advanced… It'd probably have to be like Wakandan shit since they don't seem that smart- though they are using Stark and alien stuff."

**Also a few Chitauri railguns.** **   
  
**

“Why are they making these weapons?”

“Money, they apparently lost their old job so they now have a new one. Even if it’s illegal, they need to pay their bills.”

“But people are getting hurt!” 

“Money is money.” The speaker made a sad shrug.

  
**Schultz entered in. He asked rhetorically if he was shooting shots off in public now. He told him to hurry up. Times were changing and they were the only ones selling high tech weapons.**

**  
** **Peter whispers to himself, these guys must have been where the robbers got their tools. ****  
  
**

“Yeah, y’think?” MJ snorted, though her words may have seemed a little mean Peter knew she was just teasing.

**  
** **Aaron didn’t want anything too dangerous, he merely wants to intimidate somebody, not shoot them back in time.****  
  
**

“Do you think they have weapons that could do that?” Bucky wondered, looking at the resident scientists.

“Definitely not, time-travel is impossible.” Bruce didn’t think so.

“Only right now, time-travel isn’t possible, I don’t think humanity currently has enough knowledge and the right tools to make it so.” Tony disagree with Bruce’s statement about traveling through time being impossible.

  
**Brice suggested some anti-gravity climbers, the weapon seemed to pique Aaron’s interest.**

**  
****A yodeling ringtone plays suddenly, the weapon dealers are alarmed and look around for the weird noise.** **  
  
**

“What the heck is that?” Someone shouted in confusion.

“Why is someone yodeling? What’s that noise?” 

Peter looked at Ned and blushed in embarrassment, while Ned stared at him and was clearly holding back laughter. “I blame you.”

Ned let out a loud burst of laughter that rocked his whole body.

**Brice was suspicious, moving back as he looked around. He wondered what that sound was.**

**The ringtone continued to yodel from the phone, Peter takes his phone out to check who was calling. A picture of Ned making a funny face lit up the screen.**

“Why is that your ringtone for him?” Tony sounded very confused. “And why wasn’t you phone on vibrate or something? I thought teens didn’t even know what it was to not have their phones on vibrate?”

“Yeah, you’re the only gen-Z I know that doesn’t have their phone on vibrate.” A fellow gen-Z kid stared at him as if he spontaneously grew another head.

"Ned wanted a funny ringtone for him." Peter answered, looking at Tony with embarrassment sketched across his face. Tony just made a laugh that sounded like a snort in amusement. 

  
**Schults took out his gun and aimed it at Aaron, he asked the man if he set them up. ** **Aaron raised his arms in a sign of peace.** **** **** ****

**Peter flips onto the ground and raised his hands to make sure no one got hurt, telling them to shoot him if they were going to shoot anyone. ** **  
  
**

“Peter Benjamin Parker-!” May shouted, Peter knew he was done for. “Are you insane?! You do not say stuff like that, especially when they have guns or weapons like that! You could have gotten shot!” Like Ben.

Peter has been shot before, quite a few times actually, but he always survived. Peter knew that quite a few of those weapons could have turned him to dust, or the black hole grenade could have torn him to pieces. “Someone could have gotten hurt, better me, someone with enhanced healing and durability than someone who doesn’t have either of those.”

“Peter, they had a black hole grenade and all those other things.” Tony glared at him, upset that he risked his life like that. Peter has seen that glare multiple times whenever he came home hurt and May saw that he was injured. 

**Schults agreed and turns the gun towards Peter, but Peter disarms the man with a shot of his web. Peter charges at the dealer, but he grabs a high-tech gauntlet from his van and punches Peter, sending him flying back with a bust of energy, Peter slams into the bridge and lands on the ground, stunned for a moment.** **  
  
**

“Oh my god-!” Both Tony and May shout. Tony covers his mouth and looks at the real-life Peter, scanning his body with his eyes. 

“Were you okay?!” 

Peter nods, “Just a few bruises.” Although most of them could have been from falling hundreds of feet into the air and landing in a lake, which hurt, a lot. He broke a rib and cracked many more bones. It honestly surprised him that he woke up so soon afterwards, and that he could talk.

**  
** **Schults jumps into the car and starts it, Brice laughs in triumph and gets on the back of the van. Peter groans in pain and confusion, wondering what that was. He rubs his head. Peter shoots a web onto the weapons dealer’s van door, of which was open. The van drags Peter through a neighborhood, Peter knocks into a trash can.** **  
  
**

“What a fun party.” Coach Wilson says sarcastically.

“Yeah, the best. I even got traumatised after.” Peter grins, visible to everyone it was fake.

“Traumatised?” Mr. Harrington asked worriedly.

“You shouldn’t use that word lightly, kid.” Steve chastices, looking at him disapprovingly. Peter stares at him, he still has issues taking showers, and going swimming sounds horrible. He shakes his head and looks away.

**  
****Peter shouts, and then shoots a second length of web.** **  
** **  
****Schultz speaks to Brice, telling him they had to call 'him.'****  
  
**

“Who?”

“The Ghostbusters.”

**Brice readies another weapon, which again, is high-tech, he disagreed with Schultz. Hanging on to two thin lines of webbing, Peter is trying to maintain balance. The van door breaks off when Brice fires a burst of energy.** **  
  
**

Tony took out his phone and took multiple pictures of the two men. “If they aren’t in prison…” He trails off and looks at Peter, who shakes his head. “Well, then they’re gonna be.”

  
**Schultz shouts to his accomplice, rhetorically asking if he shot his weapon again. ****  
** **  
** **Brice tells him to shut up. Schults just tells him he's calling the mysterious man. The camera cuts to a phone vibrating on a table, the surface is littered with computer chips and tools of varying uses and needs. Mason grabs the phone, before answering it, he glances around.** **  
  
**

“I love the Ghostbusters.”

**  
** **“Toomes’ phone.” Mason cringes at the sound of fighting on the other end. Mason calls to his boss, Toomes is working close by, welding something.** **  
** **  
** **Peter is shown still being dragged through the neighborhood, clinging with his webs on the back of the van.** **  
  
**

“I can’t believe this is what you did when you left, I thought you just ditched me.” Ned stared at what was going on on the screen in disbelief.

“If I was gonna ditch you, I would have told you.” Peter tells him, looking at his friend.

**“Ow, my butt! Unh!” Peter shouts.** **   
  
**

There is a short burst of laughter at the comedy of the situation.

**  
** **Brice shoots more energy blasts at Peter, causing the teen to lose his grip on one of his webs. Brice powers up another blast, but the van hits a road bump, the whole vehicle wobbles and the blast fires a hole in the van. The weapon is dropped and rolls out of the van.**

“Thank god.” Monica Warren mutters. There are similar mutters amongst the crowd.

“That thing could have killed you if the guy knew how to aim…”

**  
** **Schultz takes a sharp turn, causing Peter slide into the side of a car - which lucky for him, was parked. He then gets hauled through a conveniently placed row of garbage bins. He hits a solid brick pillar, which then is shattered upon impact, and he falls to the ground with the heap of bricks.**

Tony shouts in shock at his misfortune, "Holy shit, kid!" He flinches, a hand raising to his mouth, his leg is also slightly raised in shock.

“Christ, are you made of steel?” Mr. Cobwell asks in astonishment, though he looks guilty and scared. That is his student on screen. He’s watched the kid have an asthma attack during gym class when he was helping Coach Wilson. Peter could barely run properly and had an asthma attack. Look at him now.

  
  


**His webs are broken off. Schultz checks the vans mirror next to the door. Peter has luckily recovered from the collisions**

Tony sighs in relief, head falling back and hand falling to cover his heart. May does as well, a quiet sob-slash-sigh, though she doesn't drop or head back.

"So… Did you have a fun party?" Liz tries to joke, a small smile playing with her lips as she slightly cringes at her joking.

"Yeah," He laughs sarcastically. "The best! Homecoming was even greater."

That seems to remind Liz of their homecoming night, "Hey, why did you ditch me? Did you have to deal with illegal weapons dealers?" She's not wrong.

"Something like that, yeah."

**He gets up and sprints to get a clean shot and extends his hand. **

"How are you still running? You just hit like ten garbage bins in a row and then a block of bricks!" Wanda yells in shock. She turns to him for answers, face disbelieving.

"I am Spider-Man." He answers simply. Tony and Rhodey snort in amusement. Wanda frowns, clearly wanting a serious answer. "Uh, I heal quickly."

"Like Steve?" Clint asks, curious. How fast does Steve heal? Oh my god, is hs a mini and skinny Captain America.

"Maybe? I don't know?" Peter doesn't know. "How fast does he heal? Can hs crash a plane and get up almost immediately after?" 

Literally everyone stares at him in shock. "Okay, I know you crashed a plane but I didn't know you got up immediately after…" Tony's body is facing him, but he is looking at the ground as he says this. He tries to say something but doesn't have the words.

"I kinda had to get up…" Peter says. He can see his teachers frowning at him in pity.

"Why?" Natasha asks. They will probably see it in the movie. "And don't say we'll see it in the movie." Well there goes that.

"I was fighting Toomes- The Vulture. He was trying to steal his stuff." he gestures to Tony.

"God, I have the best security for that thing and then that happens…" Tony shakes his head, then swings it quickly to face him with a serious expression on his face. "How did he get in my plane I have the best security."

"He was using this matter phasing shifter, he used it on a truck and I could go through the wall of the truck." Peter answers, watching as Tony gets a look of shock on his face. 

"A matter phase shifter?"

"Yeah, the square… Um, there were four balls that made this square 

that made an opening on the roof of the truck, Toomes went through it and stole the stuff in the truck, it was for Damage Control." Peter explained to the best he could do, he didn't know anything about them other than they could possibly be used on a plane in high altitude (obviously.)

**The web shoots through the air and attaches itself to the remaining metal of the van door, but the door has been weakened and it breaks off. Peter throws his arms up, exasperated.** **  
  
**

"Same." A student relates to his exasperation. 

"I was almost tempted to just give up." Peter tells the student.

"Seriously?" Ned asks, tilting his head to him with widened eyes.

"Kinda, I mean I was pretty stressed… Just wanted to go home and like, eat or something." Peter says to Ned, lips tightening afterward.

**   
** **Peter grunts in annoyance, he guesses he now has to use a shortcut. He jogs on the sidewalk then jumps over a tall gate made of metal. Hs slides over a parked car, and he runs past a yard where two men are two men are playing ping-pong in a garage. "Hey, guys! Good game. Have fun."**

Once more, as usual after funny moments, there is laughter. 

"You are one of the least serious superheroes I know." Fury deadpans to Peter.

He feels a strange delight at being 'one of' something to Nick Fury. "Really? What number am I on the list?" He asks excitedly.

"Second, after Stark." Peter gapes at him, feeling proud of himself. Tony turns to him and grins smugly at him.  
  
**The players stop and gape at Spider-Man in their yard in disbelief A dog runs up to Peter, barking and standing on its hind legs to lick Peter’s masked face. Peter slings a ball a ball with his web and throws it for the dog.** **  
  
**

Shouts of "Dog!" and "Doggo!" rise from the crowd in childish excitement.

**  
** **"Hey, hey, buddy. Sorry, no time to play. Here, go fetch."** **  
  
**

"Was he a good boy?" Sally asks seriously.

Peter nods seriously, face drawn in seriousness. "The best boy." Other students nod at him in seriousness.

The teachers watched, perplexed. "Must be a, uh, gen-Z thing." Mr. Harrington tells his coworkers. 

"Maybe." Mr. Cobwell responds.

"Peter once went berserk when I showed him my bots and they beeped at him. Said they were adorable-" Tony was cut off by Clint.

"They are just metal-"

"Excuse you! Dum-E, U, and Butterfingers are not just metal! They are full of love and emotion and I love them!" Peter yelled at Clint, standing and pointing a finger at him. Tony felt his already high respect (and love) for the boy grow, the bots were honestly like his kids, he made them at MIT which was thirty years ago. 

**  
** **Peter swings on trees and streetlights through the neighborhood, cheering. ****He swings into another yard. He shoots his web and accidentally sticks it to a treehouse, he knocks it off the tree.**

Surprised giggles rise from the silent crowd of viewers. "Oh those poor… Imagine sleeping and then suddenly waking up to the sound of Spider-Man yanking your treehouse of the tree."

The giggles become laughter.

"It was an accident!" 

**The falling treehouse makes him lose his grip and he landed harshly on the roof of a shed. It collapses under him.** **  
  
**

"Weapons dealers, being dragged through a neighborhood on the back of a van. Pulling a treehouse out of a tree and then this." Tony lists with a shake of his head.

"What a party, eh?"

**  
****Peted rips the door open after a few awkward-sounding banging noises. He runs across the yard and slams through a wooden fence. He jumps into the air only to fall onto a small toy car. It rolls forward and he loses his balance, he runs and gets tangled in a soccer net and he stumbles through a hedge in front of him.** **  
  
**

Everyone watches the failure that is all that silently. Ned snickers to himself awkwardly, feeling bad.  
  
**Peter clumsily waves his hand to a man having a barbecue in his own backyard, the food smells good. ****  
** **  
** **  
** **'Ferris Bueller’s Day Off' is playing on a TV during a pool party, the sequence resembling Peter's awkward stumbles through the neighborhood. Suddenly, he flies into the frame.****  
  
**

The adults in the room burst into loud and unexpected laughter. "Kid-!" Tony wheezes, clapping and nearly falling out of his chair.

"Yeah, yeah…" Peter mumbles, embarrassed. The whole thing, running through the neighborhood, was honestly embarrassing. 

**  
** **Peters feet drag over the pool, splashing water over the partygoers in front of the pool, they scream in surprise at being suddenly drenched in water. **

**He flies and gets tangled in fairy lights, he crashes into another yard, landing right in beside a tent where two children having a sleepover. His mask's eyes malfunction, twitching in a creepy fashion. He greets the kids.****  
** **  
** **The kids in the tent scream in terror. Peter yells, shocked. The tent gets flipped as the girls and Peter try to escape.**  
  
Peter has his head in his hands as everyone around him laughs. Peter wonders if anyone would notice if he got up and hid in the corner.

He stood up and stumbled to get away. He almost tripped over knees and feet, but in a few seconds he was in the walkway. The room was dark so as everyone laughed and joked he got to the back of the room. He looked around and no one seemed to notice him, and if they did, they just looked away, brushing him off in favour of talking to their friends. 

He took off his shoes and socks and latched his fingers and toes onto the wall. He climbed up towards the ceiling, the climb slightly difficult as the walls were padded to reduce echoes. Once he was at the top of the walls, he stuck his hands and feet onto the ceiling and crouched, hiding in the corner.  
  
**The scene cut to Ned. Ned took out his phone and stealthily brought it up to his ear, only for it to reach Peter's voicemail, "Hey, it’s Peter. Leave a message." The phone beeps.** **  
** **  
** **Ned whispers into the phone. He asks him where he is, his hat wasn't working. This is not cool.****  
  
**

"Did you try to interact with people?" Someone asked Ned. Ned realises that he didn't interact with anyone.

**  
** **The van drives down the street, smoke pouring out from the back of the van. Peter lands from above, just barely missing the vehicle.** **  
  
**

There are quiet sounds of disappointment the crowd.

**Peter huffs, he almost has them. He knocks over some more garbage bins as he attempts to leap onto a roof.** **  
  
**

"God, Pete, you and garbage bins…" Tony jokes. May laughs, he has knocked over quite a few garbage bins, hasn't he? 

"There's a video of him kicking over a garbage can." A student mentions.

Tony looks at the student in confusion, "Why?" 

The student has a mini freakout then composes their self. "I don't know."

"What about that video of him dancing on a traffic light post?" Another student mentions. Everyone who saw that video laughs.

**  
** **Running from roof to roof of the houses, Peter tries his best to make sure the van is in his sight as much as possible.** **  
** **  
** **Peter talks to himself, panting. "Thought you got away from me, didn’t you? I got you right where I want you."** **  
  
**

Peter, from his perch upside down on the ceiling, feels dread and anxiety well up inside him. He shifts, and uncomfortable feeling washing over him instead of just pressure on his sternum.

**  
** **Peter jumps towards the van, finally close enough. ****  
  
**

The crowd cheers, feeling victorious as the web-slinger finally reaches the van. Tony jumps up, hands raised as he shouts a cheer. He turns to Peters seat, frowning when he's not there.

**  
** **Suddenly, the Vulture snatches Peter with his claws from behind.**

Peter flinches. The room screams in shock, the cheers of triumph becoming shocked cries and fear at the suddenness of it.

Ned turns to Peters seat, eyes wide. "Peter?" He looks around, "Hey, Peter!" He calls.

"Where's Peter?" Tony calls over the crowd, it becoming quiet as they regard the Avenger. Tony feels like one of those parents in comedy shows or movies that go crazy when their kid isn’t within arms reach.

From the back, Peter lets go and flips as he falls, landing on his feet. He tucks and does a somersault so the kinetic energy of the fall flows through him so he doesn't hurt his joints and bones. The person next to where he lands screams in shock.

"Here!" He tells Ned and Tony so they don't panic, he raises his arm in a wave. Tony relaxes, Ned waves.

**The Vulture, in his wingsuit, soars high, carrying him in his claws. Peter screams, and looks down.** **Peter tugs and wrestles to pull his leg free from the Vultures claws.** **  
  
**

'Dropped me in a lake' Ned remembers. The day he said that was after the party. How else would you be dropped in a lake unless you were flying? Ned feels a cold wave of dread and guilt blow over him. That must have been terrifying.**  
  
**

**Vulture glares his menacing green-glowing eyes at Peter, noticing his struggle. He flies higher, still carrying him in his grasp.**

**The spider on the back of Pete's suit blinks and beeps. A parachute in the hidden compartment shoots out and unfolds. The air resistance causes Peter to be ripped from the Vultures grasp.**

May gasps. Her hand covers her mouth as she flinches, watching her nephew fall from who-knows-how-high. Her eyes water a bit, and she shakes slightly, her heart feels like it’s being crushed.

"How high were you?" Clint asks, turning to Peter as the teen walks back to his seat

"Um, I don't know…" Peter answers. He takes a seat and fumbles with his fingers, nails picking at the dirt under his nails.

Flash watches this with guilt that’s almost painful. He remembers what he did at the party, what he and the crowd chanted. He made fun of Peter while he was falling to his death. Flash looks back, and sees Peter with Ned and MJ watching the screen. He looks down.

**As he falls, Peter gets tangled and wrapped up in the fabric, the parachute billowing in the wind as he falls. Peter screams.** **  
  
**

"..." Ned is silent, his jaw dropped as he watched what Peter went through after he 'ditched' him. Peter wonders how he would feel seeing how he was dropped in the lake. Or accidentally cutting a ferry in half. Or having a building dropped on him. Or (so many 'or's) crashing a plane and immediately after getting in a fight with the man who did all of that. He’s trembling, that’s his friend falling from what must seem like miles in the air.

"I would have rathered to kick over garbage cans and bins than fall from a few hundred feet in the air." Peter says, anxiety welling up inside him as he watches himself fall, though it was much better to watch than actually experience. He still has a fear of heights, though he manages. It helps knowing that if he falls he has his webs.

Sam awkwardly laughs, "Yeah, I'll bet…"

**  
** **The camera changes to show the chaotic view Peter sees as he plunges into a lake. Peter struggles to get free from the parachute as he sinks into the dark blue murky depths.** **  
  
**

MJ is shaking. That’s her friend right there, falling after a demon-costumed man dropped him just because he was trying to do something good. Her eyes are moist, and her lips are quivering. She crosses her arms to comfort herself. 

"Oh my god…" People whisper as they watch.

  
“I don’t take baths anymore and pools are a big no.” Peter mentions.

Tony laughs a bit. Yeah, he understands that, Tony could barely take showers after Afghanistan. He asked JARVIS to tell him other ways to bathe yourself that don’t include showers or baths; the first shower he had, he fell to the floor and had a severe panic attack. 

**  
** **Above water, all seems calm, not betraying Peter's struggles underneath to try to get air. A figure suddenly dives into the water. An Iron Man suit emerges, holding a limp Peter Parker in his wet Spider-Man suit. The eyes on his mask blink open. **

"Oh thank god…" May covers her heart. "Thank you." May looks at Tony, who smiles weirdly, not knowing how to deal with being thanked.

"No problem." He almost does finger guns. Rhodey snorts.

“Thank you.” May’s voice is serious, eyes stern yet full of tears.**  
  
**

**Peter mumbles a 'hey', he was tired.** **  
  
**

MJ and Ned let out a small laugh, though they comes out watery.

**  
** **Peter wrings out his soggy mask, water dripping from it. He is shown sitting on a jungle gym. In front of the teen superhero is a floating Iron Man. ****Peter was telling the story of what happened. The guy swooped down, like a monster. He picked him up and flew him some thousand feet then just dropped him. He asked Tony how he found him, wondering if there was a tracker in his suit. ****  
** **  
** **Tony answers him simply, he put everything in his suit, including a heater. ****  
  
**

"What about a microwave? A toaster? I know you have a water purifier in your suit." Rhodey question.

"Oh, a water purifier, I should add that. And a toaster, maybe if I add a heater on… Well, anywhere, you could make toast." Tony takes out his phone and opens up the notes.

"Mr. Stark I don't need a toaster! Or a water purifier!" Peter tries to tell him, but his mentor is ignoring him.

**  
****The suit dries instantly, evident by the steam rising and surrounding Peter. He thanks Tony, he fely better. Peter is still shivering though, his teeth chattering.** **  
  
**

**Tony ends the moment and starts questioning him, what was Peter thinking? He sounds like a dad.** **  
  
**

"You sound like a dad." Clint says.

**The winged man was evidently the source of all the weapons, therefor he had to take him down. He waves his hand in a vague gesture.** **  
  
**

"Take him down?" May raises her left eyebrow.

"He was doing bad guy things!"

Tony turns to Peter, "You were supposed to be partying not taking down illegal weapon dealers."

"But-!" Peter continues, but May takes out her phone and Googles 'How to co-parent a teenager.'

**  
** **Tony doesn't think it's enough. Take him down? "Steady, Crockett," There are people who handle illegal weapon dealing.****  
** **  
****Peter wonders, was it the Avengers?****  
** **  
** **Tony shakes his head. Weapon dealing was below their paygrade. He didn't say that the Avengers were split up.****  
** **  
****Peter changes the subject. Tony didn't have to fly all the way out to where he was, he had it, he was fine.****  
** **  
** **"Oh, I’m not here."** **  
  
**

"What?" Ned and many other students wonder.

**  
** **The suits helmet opens, revealing everything but Tony's face, where he should have been but wasn't**

"Oh."

"Ouch."

"Couldn't even be there for the kid?" Steve chastises.

Tony looks at the man incredulously, "I was in India!"

**  
** **The scene switches to show Tony in India. The man is dressed in a white kurta and is wearing a nice red scarf around his neck. Tony thanks God the place had Wi-Fi or Peter would be toast right now. Thank Ganesh while he's at it.****  
  
**

"What was India like?" Mr. Cobwell asks.

"Dry, dusty, but nice." Tony answers simply.

A student snorts, "Sounds like me." There are quiet giggles at the remark.

**  
** **A man hands Tony a drink. Tony grabs it, hs makes a small toast and whispers his gratitude.****  
  
**

A student repeated him, "Cheers." Causing a reaction of other students and even a teacher to say 'Cheers.'

**   
** **Tony pleads through the empty, FRIDAY-piloted suit to forget the Vulture.** **   
  
**

"Why? He's a bad guy." A freshman wondered.

**  
****Peter was confused.****  
** **  
** **This seemed to agitate Tony, because he said so.****  
  
**

"That's a horrible reason."

"I hate when parents and adults do that. Give me an actual reason, I'm not a slave to do whatever you say…" What Tony said seemed to hit close to home for a teen.

**  
** **A woman walks to him holding a flower garland and holds it up so she could put it on him, Tony politely bends down to help her put the garland around his neck. ** **  
  
**

"Oh, that's pretty."

"God, I wish someone would just give me a flower necklace every time I get annoyed."

Their friend seemed to think it was a bad idea, "You are, like, always annoyed and stressed, you'd have, like, a thousand necklaces!"

"Yeah, and then I'd have a collection of flower necklaces!" The student countered, then another student joined in the conversation to correct them

"Um, actually. Sorry, uh… They're flower garlands."

**  
** **Tony apologized to the woman. He continued lecturing Peter, stay close to the ground. Build his game helping little people, like the woman who gifted him the churro.**

Ned looked at Peter with an awe-filled expression on his face. "He remembered!"

**“Can’t you just be a friendly…” Tony pauses to take a sip from his drink and then he puts it down on a statue with a small clink. “...neighborhood Spider-Man?”** **  
  
**

“Ohh, that’s where it came from!” Ned turns to Peter with a look of understanding, almost as if he finally understood one of the world’s greatest secrets.

Peter smiles and nods.

“Wait-” MJ looks at the two with an unimpressed expression on her face, “Are you serious? That inside joke you two would break out into laughter so hard you literally fell off your chair was from _ this _?”

The two teens nod.

MJ is not impressed.

**Peter pleads tilting his head, trying to get his mentor to understand. He felt he was ready for more.** **   
  
**

**Tony believed he was not. The mask of the empty Iron Man suit closes with a tink.** **   
** ****

**Peter tries to counter, that wasn't what he thought when he took on Captain America ** **   
  
**

Steve grimaces, and shifts in his seat. Tony side-eyes Steve with an expressionless mask. Natasha side-eyes the two superheroes like a kindergarten teacher watching the two worst toddlers.

  
**If the captain actually wanted to take him down, he would have. Tony counters, voice full of finality for the argument. If Peter comes across the weapons again, he was to call Happy.** **   
  
**

Steve winced and hunched over. He felt guilty for beating his friend, or teammate, Steve wasn’t sure exactly what they were. He hopes they were - or would be - friends again.

Clint snorts, “Yeah, he would.” 

Steve knows that Clint is just talking about 

**  
** **Over the call, Peter hears the sound of an engine in a car revving up. He asks incredulously if the man was driving.**

**  
** **The camera shows Tony getting in a car, he shuts the door and speaks, it was never to early to start thinking about college. He has some pull at MIT. He tells the phone to end the call. The mechanic dries off.** **  
  
**

“You should go to MIT.” May suggests, a small hopeful smile adorning her face.

“I’ll even pay for everything.” Tony tells the two, a large grin on his face. Peter feels panic hit him in the chest,

“No! Mr. Stark you don’t have to!” 

“I’m gonna do it.”

“Tony, you don’t have to pay for it.” May tells Tony, voice soft yet stern. Everyone was watching the interaction with interest, some laughing quietly to their self.

Tony was silent for a moment, “I will pay for college and you-” Tony turned to Peter. “Will pay for everything.”

Peter sighed.

Tony looked at the screen in victory.

May shook her head in exasperation.

**  
****Peter tries to continue the conversation, feeling slightly frustrated with the man. He almost gets off the jungle gym. ** **  
** **  
** **FRIDAY cut Peter off, Tony was no longer available. The empty Iron Man suit straightened and took off.**

Tony felt like everyone was side-eyeing him or straight out staring at him.

After a few seconds it got to him, “It was FRIDAY’s fault.” 

**Peter muttered to himself. ** **  
** **  
** **Peter is walking towards an empty yard, he was wearing his mask. 'Stay close to the ground?' He is muttering to himself. He suddenly stops, spotting something in front of him. Peter walks into the yards, and stops again when he finds a piece of the weapon that fell out of Brice’s vehicle.**

“Woah, what’s that?”

** He crouches down in front of it, his fingers nearing it to tentatively flip the broken weapon. ****  
** **  
** **Inside the weapon, Peter finds the purple energy core. **

Ned quietly gasps. A few other students look to him in confusion, expecting a reason for his gasp, but he stays silent.

**His phone breaks the silence with a ring, it’s from Ned. “Hey, man, what’s up? I’m on my way back.”**

**Ned responds, He probably shouldn't come back. Ned pulls his phone from his ear and raises it in the air.** **  
** **  
** **“When I say ‘penis,’ you say ‘Parker’ Penis!” Flash yells.** **  
** **  
** **The crowd responds enthusiastically, “Parker!”** **  
  
**

The crowd was silent in disappointment and self hatred, everyone looking at each other out of the corner of their eyes in suspicion.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Sam whispers.

“Sheep.” MJ declares.

**  
** **“Penis!”** **  
** **  
** **“Parker!”** **  
  
**

May and Tony scan the crowd to try to spot anyone who was at the party.

**  
** **Peter can hear Flash and his friends chanting in the background. Ned cut the chanting with an apology, they were still losers. They'll see eachother the next day.****  
** **  
** **“I’ll see you tomorrow in school.” Peter hangs up and cautiously lifts the weapon. The glowing core is encased by metal and wires.** **  
** **  
  
**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i really hope you liked this one! also, i may have 6/14 chapters but that does not mean i have written all 14 chapters!!! while i write the reactions, i am at the same time editing the story so its not straight up plagiarism.


	7. “Under the radar. Under the radar!”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “All right.”
> 
> Toomes walks off.
> 
> Her dad is a murderer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you like!!! :D

**The scene started in Toomes’ warehouse, Mason was sitting in front of and working on a small device which had a similar glow to the purple core from Peter’s discovery. **

“What now?”

“Oh, god, not them…”

Liz felt dread well up in her. First time she saw her dad on screen he was making weapons.

**Mason blows on a soldering tool then picks up a cube that is glowing. Mason throws it towards the refrigerator, the cube attaches and creates a rectangular portal, he reaches through and grabs a drink. **

“Not to praise the bad guy but that looks awesome.” Charles says, looking at the screen with reluctant impress.

“How do you think it works?” Bruce looked at the device on the screen in fascination. It stuck itself to the refrigerator, so maybe it’s magnetic?

**Mason woah’s, the room started to shake, causing the cube parts to fall off the fridge. Toomes lands harshly on the platform, still wearing his Vulture suit. He stepped out of the suit, walking down the stairs, footsteps angry and loud with each step.** ****  
****  
**Toomes insults his crew with a single word. He throws the helmet onto the ground. “Idiots!”** ****

“Damn, what’s he so mad for?” 

“I know right? Calm down.” The student snickers. Liz couldn’t help but feel anger at the two, Toomes was her dad, his workers probably just ruined his job… Even if his job was illegal. Liz felt conflicted. Her dad was bad but he was her dad. 

“Guys…” Liz started, voice quiet and sad. “Please stop.”

****  
**A worker startles, looking at Toomes. Mason speaks to Toomes, informing his boss that his wife has been texting him about a break light. **  
****  
**Toomes approaches Mason, rhetorically questioning him on what he'd previously told him about looking at his phone. ** ****  
****  
**Mason apologises, but Toomes ignores him and takes his phone. Mason informs him that the design for the high-altitude vacuum seal was finished.**

Peter silently gasps, his eyes widening. Was that the seal that was used on the plane? Planes are high-altitude, and vacuum seals, he would need that tool to steal from a plane, right?

******Toomes hums, looking at his worker in confusion, eyebrows raised.**  
****  
** Mason explains that he finished the design in case Toomes wanted to go for the 'Big One'.** ****

“What’s the ‘big one’?” The teen turned to Peter for answers, but all they got was a mostly masked face, with anxiety hiding underneath, staring at the screen. 

Peter is pretty sure the Big One was stealing from Stark Industries, specifically from Stark(-slash-Avengers) Tower. The last person to attempt to steal from Stark Industries got a eight months in prison; the woman, who worked for them, got caught by another worker, so she failed in her theft, thus getting a reduced sentence (but she stole from Stark Industries, so her sentence was longer than usual)

****  
**Toomes’ voice is angry, “You’re still on that? I told you, no. The answer’s no. Forget it.”** ****

Toomes didn’t want to steal from the plane? Peter was confused, the man crashed the plane and almost killed himself when he tried. 

****   
**The badly damaged van from Peter’s recent encounter with the weapons dealers pulls into the warehouse. Toomes and Mason turn to it with curiosity. Brice jumps out from the back of the van, not even bothering with the decimated doors.**

Peter frowned at the man.

“Dick.” Someone said.

“The asshole almost killed the kid and he’s cheering?” Natasha mumbled angrily, her arms crossed and face only showed mostly concealed anger. She has a big thing against killing children. Fury silently shared her emotions, the kid’s a second Stark with spider-powers, and he’s a kid.

****   
**Brice, grinning like a mad-man, takes off his hand-weapon and skips to Toomes, he compliments the man, saying it was badass.**   
****   
**This annoyed Toomes, he walked towards Brice. He interrogates the man on how many times he had ordered him to not fire weapons in the open.**

“God, how many times has this happened?” Steve sits back and crosses his arms, frowning deeply.

****   
**Brice flailed his arms. He responded that he - Toomes - had said to move the merchandise.**   
****   
**“Under the radar. Under the radar!” Toomes hits the table to emphasize his point. Under the radar was how they were going to survive. If Damage Control or the Avenues were brought into it, their business was through. Brice was out there wearing his 'goofy thing', calling hinself the 'Shocker'. Toomes mocked him, "** **I’m the Shocker. I shock people." He asked if this was a pro wrestling ring in a mocking manner.**

There are snorts in the crowd.

“Could you compare pro wrestling to being a superhero?” Someone asks curiously.

“I mean, I guess? You’re both fighting… I don’t watch pro wrestling and I’m not a superhero.” Abe replies, shrugging his shoulders.

“How many people in this room do you think are superheroes?” Nameless #1 student replies, turning his head to spy through the crowd of students.

“Well, we have the Avengers and Pet-” Betty starts but is interrupted by Sally.

“I don’t think they count, how many people other than the already known ones do you think are in here?” 

The students hum, looking around at their peers around them, scanning the crowd for anyone they knew to act suspicious. Everyone previous thought Peter was just a loser who bunkered in his room all day with Ned building LEGOS, now they know that loser was a hero who saves cats and stops rogue cars and illegal weapon dealing mechanics.

“Anyone wanna come out?”

No one raises their hands until a student Peter remembers from a party that the school has every year.

“I brought cookies and chips to the party when the guy who brought the snacks got hospitalized.” The entire crowd of students cheer. The snack-guy got in a pile-up according to the principal, who ran an assembly at the end of the day to say thanks to the student who brought the cookies and chips. It was winter and the roads were icy.

****  
**Brice scoffs and walks away to the table, trying to end the conversation. Toomes ignores his attempt and follows. Toomes tries to reason with his coworker, acknowledging Brice's lack of care, while telling him that he himself did care, that he built his business because he had people to look after.**  
  
****  
**Brice mockingly tilts his head from side to side. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.”** ****

Peter feels his spidey senses tickle his nape, it was barely noticeable but felt like a warning. He tensed up, and took a deep breath to ready himself. Ned looked at him with questioning eyes, his head tilted slightly. 

Peter looked around, trying to find the source of his weird spidey tingle.

****   
**Toomes stops and stares at Brice, his expression cold and nearly psychopathic. Toomes cannot afford his bullshit. He told the man to leave. ** ****

**Brice was angry, he asked him to repeat that.**  
****  
**“You’re done. You’re off the crew.”** ****

“Oof.” 

A teacher turned to the crowd, “Are all your responses to stuff really ‘oof’?” 

“According to Merriam-Webster, it means ‘Definition of oof. Used to express discomfort, surprise, or dismay,’ an example of it is: ‘I once watched a highlight reel of Tyson knockouts with a roomful of intoxicated medical students who punctuated every blow with phrases like “Oof!”’” Betty quoted, reading from her phone.

“So it’s not just a millenial or Gen-Z thing?” A student wonders, their eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

Betty replies, “Apparently not.” 

“Nope.” Another student replies, popping the ‘p’.

Betty was still scrolling through the website. “It was first used in seventeen-seventy-seven. Can be used with,” She giggles, “Oodles, ooftish, and oofy.” 

“Oofy.”

“So many oodles of ‘oo’.”

“Oodles of ‘oo’ sounds like a fantasy book title.”

**Brice nodded his head sarcastically. He sarcastically accepted that, before asking if Toomed could afford to have him out in the world with everything he knew. Brice walks off. When Toomes questions him, he continues, wondering what his wife would appreciate knowing where he really got his money from.**

**  
** **“You know what?” Toomes seems to change his mind.**

But Peters senses told him otherwise. He realised that the danger was on the screen, and not in the weird pocket dimension.  
****  
**“What?”** ****  
****  
**Toomes agrees with Brice, then he turns to Mason, his voice low as he gestures to a weapon. “That work?” Mason wasn't sure if it did.**

The crowd twitched and shifted in suspicion and suspense. ****

**Toomes looks back at Brice. He couldn't afford that. Toomes picks up the weapon from the table and fires it. A blue ray zaps Brice, searing him down to ashes. The Brice-shaped-ash-pile dropped the gauntlet he was holding as he collapses. The weapon powers down as Toomes looks on, a little confused. ** ****

Liz screams, covering her mouth as she cries. Her dad just killed someone. Directly. Her dad aimed a weapon at someone and turned the man to literal ashes. She sobs and breathes in, the sound hiccup-y and every breath stuttery. She is shaking.

Her dad just killed someone.

She can’t breathe.

A man died and her dad is the one who did it.

She chokes. Is she gonna puke?

Her dad aimed a weapon at someone and fired, killing him.

Someone touches her, and she sobs. “You’re in a theater,” She slowly processes the information. “You’re okay, you just have to breathe. 1.” The person (Peter?) inhales. “2. 3. 4.” He exhales. “4 seconds each, it helps me, can you do it with me?” She lets out a choked sob in response. Someone is still dead.

“1.” Inhale. “2. 3” She continues breathing. “4.” She exhales, same process.

1\. Inhale. Her dad killed someone, why? 2. Maybe he really annoyed him, but that's not a good reason to kill someone. 3. All this weapons dealing must have affected his mental health… 4. Who knows? She isn’t a therapist and she hasn’t researched much on psychology.  
  
1\. Exhale. She can ask the person who evaluated her dad, maybe. 2. If she can’t, she can look on Google and also watch some Ted-Talks. 3. Maybe he’s a sociopath. He didn’t seem to care much about the fact that he… 4.   
  
1\. 2. 3. 4.   
  
1\. 2. 3. 4.

She repeats it, processing everything as she does so. Peter is rubbing her back as she shakes and recovers from the panic attack.

****  
**Toomes is still confused, so he speaks to Mason. “I thought this was the antigravity gun.”** ****  
****  
**Mason points to a different weapon, that was the antigravity gun. Dropping the weapon, it landing with a slight clatter on the worktable, Toomes approaches Brice’s remains. ** ****

Liz watches with hope. The room is quiet, has been for a bit ever since she had a panic attack. 

**He grabs the gauntlets and cleans the ashes off the ‘Shocker’s weapon. He then tosses the gauntlet off to Schultz. “Here. Now you’re the Shocker. Go out there and find that weapon he lost.”** ****

Tears mark their path down Liz’s face in shiny tracks.

****  
**  
** **Toomes walks off.**

Her dad is a murderer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please don't expect a new chapter within the next few days, chapter 9 is 15 pages long and that's just the movie stuff, not the reactions.  
I post chapters when the one after the next one is finished; i have finished chapter 7 and now 8, so now you get a new chapter. once i finish 9, you will get chapter 8. once i finish 10, you get chapter 9.  
update, 9/27/2019: im sick ahahaha :/


	8. “It’s not too far from D.C.”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “... Didn’t that thing blow up the monument?” MJ stares at the two like they’re idiots. “God, you two have no self-preservation instincts do you?”
> 
> “Yeah I d-!” Peter’s shout is cut off by Tony.
> 
> “According to your AI, Karen, that is incorrect. You have no self-preservation instincts and she knows from first-hand experience.” Tony isn’t wearing his sunglasses anymore, so his ‘don’t lie to me’ eyes are hitting him full force. Peter is silent, mouth barely moving as he tries to think of something.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i know this chapter is short, but chapter 9 is 28 pages! so in a week or two (hopefully not 3, but no promises soz) you'll get it!

**The scene starts in shop class, with Peter hitting the Chitauri core casing with a hammer. The core shines purple light as it is partially broken free from the metal casing. Peter gasped quietly in shock, flinching back.** ****

“That’s dangerous, you don’t know if the think could have exploded or something.” The shop class teacher warns, looking angry. Principal Morita and all the other teachers agree.

“I tested it at home, I wouldn’t have brought something I thought could have killed us all to school. Plus, when it did explode, no one died… But-” He shrugs, looking down forlornly. “They could have.”

“Wh-!” Principal Morita starts with a yell, standing up. Peter hunches in on himself. “When did it explode?!” 

“DC. The monument.” Peter mutters, the guilt feels like it’s crushing him. He shouldn’t have given it to Ned, or at least he should have told Ned to not take it. But how would he have known? He was too busy trapped in a storage room.

“DC.” Ned copies back louder for Peter. 

  
**He starts to take apart the pieces, careful hands pulling at the casing. Ned joins him at the worktable. “Hey, thanks for bailing on me.”** ****

Ned turned to Peter with a small frown, “Sorry, dude.” He apologized simply, eyes puppy-like to reveal his guilt.

“You didn’t know, it’s okay.” 

Ned waved at the screen wildly. “You almost died!”

“But I didn’t, I’m right here…” He raised his arms halfway, then lowered them, “Wherever I am, we are.” He looked around. “Do we still not know where we are?” He looked at he adults in the front row. They all nodded.

“We are in a theater, that’s all we know.” Tony answers with the corner of his mouth pulled back and down.

The male voice from before the beginning of the movie was back, “You are in the same universe you were born in.”

Steve rolled his eyes. Natasha snorted, “Very specific, thanks.”

  
**Peter replies with a half-truth, telling Ned that somethings came up.**   
****   
**Ned quickly becomes distracted once he spots the purple hued core on the worktable. He queries on what the object is.**   
****   
**Peter stumbles with the small machine, grappling to take it apart. Peter tells the truth, commenting that someone had tried to vaporize him with it. ** ****

“Is that seriously all you knew about the weapon?” Bruce wondered, looking at the teen disapprovingly. 

Peter stared at the doctor incredulously, “I didn’t make it. So I took it apart to learn about it, how else was I supposed to?” There are small, barely noticeable, sounds of agreement at Peter’s statement.

Clint started with, “You could have done it at hom-” But Peter cut him off,

“I didn’t have the proper tools at home, but I knew my school did.” Peter told them. They still looked disapproving, but also slightly understanding. 

“You could have come to me.” Tony suggests. Peter stares at him. 

“Not to like, be mean or rude or something but you never said I could do anything close to that.”

Tony puts on his glasses in what Natasha knows is embarrassment. “Well now you know.” Tony grins, but he seems embarrassed.

  
**Ned looks at him, eyes wide with disbelief. Peter confirms what he said, Ned whispering that that was awesome. ****Peter turns to Ned at the unthinkable reaction.** ****

“I’m sorry…” Neds voice is slightly strained with self-hatred.

“Ned, you didn’t know why I was dropped in the lake. I’ve said it a few times and I’ll say it many times again, it’s okay.” Peter looks at Ned with the most sincere expression Ned has ever seen on his face. He feels something ease up in his chest, his friend truly forgave him. Ned smiles, it’s small and still has some self-loathing, but it’s still a real smile. 

****   
**Ned stumbles to take what he said back. Peter’s look tightens a bit, then continues to work on the stone’s casing. He comments that he believes the core is the power source.**   
****   
****

“Smart.”

****  
**Ned continues on Peter’s hypothesis, the core was connected to multiple microprocessors. Ned points to an inductive charging plate. "That’s what I use to charge my toothbrush.” Ned points at a complex-appearing charging mechanism that is connected to the varied wires.** ****

“They’re in high school how are they so smart.” Steve asks rhetorically, his eyes wide in wonder as he watched the screen. 

The teachers in the room felt pride well up in their chests. They all taught the two teens and now look at them... Taking apart alien weapons and able to know what the 'glowy thingy' is. Though, it may not be the best thing to do, taking apart alien weapons... Principle Morita took out his phone and opened his Notes app, "Do. Not. Take... Apart... Alien... Weapons... In. The... Robotics... Lab..." He paused. "Do. Not.Bring. Alien... Weapons. To... School."

"Maybe I should also hire Ned..." Tony contemplated. Ned turned to Peter with astonishment written all over his face.

**Peter states that whoever was creating the weapons was clearly combing the alien tech with their own.**

“It’s Big Brain time, y’all.” Abe announces loudly. There are cheers and claps and copied shouts from the audience made up of teenagers.

“**That is literally the coolest sentence anyone has ever said. I just want to thank you for letting me be part of your journey into this amazing-” **

“It really is.” Ned says, looking at Peter with sincerity. He reaches over the short space between them and grips Peter’s arm in a loose but strong hold. “Thank you for bringing me on this amazing journey of you being a superhero. You are an amazing friend and I love you.” Peter felt himself almost tear up, his heart feeling heavy with care for his friend, and the smile he has on his face didn’t reveal even half of the care and love he has for his best friend. 

He tilts his head, “Love you, too.” Peter pats his friend's arm, then decides it isn’t enough and pulls Ned into a hug. His arms are tight in their hold around him, but Peter made sure it didn’t hurt him. Ned hugs back tightly.

“Can’t breathe.” Ned jokes, his chest rising and falling in a laugh.

“Good.” Peter replies with humour. He hides his face in the juncture between Ned’s shoulder and neck, hugging tighter. He breathed deeply. He knew it was a bit much - Ned only said ‘thank you’ and now they’re hugging like those military-people and their dogs after their human came back from war. But they both felt really loved so they didn’t care, hugs are great!

Peter laughed and he pulled away. 

**Peter is focused on everything but what Ned is saying.**

Peter snorted at his past self and Ned pouted at him.

** He raises the hammer and hits the glowing power source really hard, the core pops out from it’s confines, still glowing. Peter and Ned whip their heads to face the teacher, eyes like saucers in fear. **

“Is this when you got detention?” MJ asked, referring to one of the rare moments when he got detention, that was the day he accidentally cut the ferry in half… He hated that day, though he didn’t regret going after the bad guys, he just wished he had done it differently… 

**The teacher just continues reading his book, relaxed in his chair, not even sparing a glance towards the commotion the two teens are causing. Mr. Hapgood drones, telling his students to keep their fingers away from the blades. **

Mr. Hapgood puts his head in his hands and sighs. The other teachers subtly side-eye him.

**Peter and Ned wheel back and stare at the energy core that popped out. Peter feels obligated to figure out what the tech was and who made it and the other weapons he overheard ths dealers talking about. ** ****

“... Didn’t that thing blow up the monument?” MJ stares at the two like they’re idiots. Principal Morita sharply inhaled. “God, you two have no self-preservation instincts do you?” 

“Yeah I d-!” Peter’s shout is cut off by Tony.

“According to your AI, Karen, that is incorrect. You have no self-preservation instincts and she knows from first-hand experience.” Tony isn’t wearing his sunglasses anymore, so his ‘don’t lie to me’ eyes are hitting him full force. Peter is silent, mouth barely moving as he tries to think of something.

“A guy shot at me and I jumped out of the way!”

“Yeah, but you’ve also jumped in front of a gun and got shot in the chest. Don’t lie to me.”

MJ popped in, “Are we just going to ignore the fact that your AI is named Karen?”

"Does she ever ask for the manager?" Charles asks, snorting. There are giggles that rise from the mouths of other students.

“Sometimes.” Peter responds. One time, he was helping a kid when the waitress of a small restaurant kicked him out. Karen quietly asked, ‘Should I ask for the manager?’ and it took Peter much strength to not fall into a puddle of giggles.

******Ned tells Peter that they can go to the lab after class and run tests. The camera switches to show the glowing core on the worktable.** ****  
****  
**Peter and Ned initiate their secret, complicated handshake.** ****

“What the hell is that?” Sam asks, face twisted as he watches the complex-looking handshake.

“Our secret handshake.” Ned and Peter say in unison.

“Well, it’s not so secret anymore.” Rhodes snorts as he watches the teens arms bump together. 

“Do you know how to do our handshake?” Peter tilts his head in a show of challenge, the small rise of his smile expressing playfulness.

“I’ll have to watch the handshake again but…” Rhodey shrugs his shoulders.

****   
**The camera switches once more to show Peter and Ned spying down the hallway. Ned explains that first they should put the 'glowy thingy' ** **in the mass spectrometer. **

**** **Peter interrupts him, they should come up with a name better than 'glowy thingy.' ** **Then, Schultz and Randy slip in. **

Many students gasp - the majority inhale through their noses - in worry. The students who were present that afternoon felt their blood turn to ice, they could have been killed that day.

  
“Shit.” Flash whispers, tensing up.

Principal Morrison had a look of pure horror on his face. Those guys almost killed Peter. Two adult murderers and alien-weapon dealers had been in his school. He turned to Tony, about to ask a question, but the man answered-slash-told-him for him.

“I’ll get your school extra security, not even a fly would be able to get in.” 

“Thank you.”

**Peter spots them and freezes immediately. With incredibly efficiency, Peter jumps behind a wall.** ****

“How-?! ” Flash cuts off and rubs his forehead, he sighs before pointing with his elbow still on his knee towards the screen, “Wait… Spider-Man.” He explained to himself.

“What, did you forget?” Sally asks with a breathy snort. 

“Kinda! He doesn’t look like Spider-Man!”

“Spider-Man doesn’t really look like anybody.” Cindy counters.

“He looks like me.”

Liz looks at Peter, “Actors who voice-act characters sometimes start seeing themselves as those characters after time. So that could be what’s happening to you. Although, you aren’t an animal, so that may also be why.” A small giggle escapes her after the last sentence. Scattered laughter and chuckles are heard throughout the crowd.

"But," Cindy counters Liz's claim. "The mask has no identifying features other than large eyes and a vague shape of a nose. Animals do, eyes, nose, a mouth, and the shape of their head. Not that Spider-Man doesn't have a head on his shoulders, but Peter wears a mask." There are nods in the crowd at what she said.

"Maybe Peter sees himself when he looks at Spider-Man because he wears the suit and mask." Sally said.

****  
**Peter continues whispering for Ned to follow him behind the wall.**  
**  
** **After taking an awkward look around, Ned shuffles across the T - the three hallways connecting into one - to join Peter by a classroom window. Inside the classroom, the Chess Club is tranquilly playing a game. Peter peaks around the corner.**

“Its me!” Tiny yells in delight, pointing at himself on the big screen.

****   
**Schultz mutters to his parter that schools were creepy to him.** ****

“They are kinda creepy when the hallways are empty.”

****   
**Ned peers at them as well.**

****   
****   
**Schools smelt funny to Schultz.** ****

“That’s called Axe body spray.”

“I don’t use Axe.” 

“No, but you use that arm-hammer-whatever-stuff.”

“Yes, I do use that arm-hammer-whatever-stuff.” Their friend replied mockingly, their friend punched them in the shoulder and said, ‘shut up!’

****   
**Peter and Ned hide behind the corner. The two have a whispered conversation. One of the guys was the one that shot at him the night before.** ****

****May frowns. Every night her boy goes out and almost gets himself killed, but at the same time he also saves people. May remembers once when she was getting mugged and Spider-Man swooped in and punched the men. She doesn't like it, but she can't deny that he is also doing good.

  
**Ned looks at him in shock. ** **Ned panics, they had to get out of there.** ****

“Yes, leave, it’s dangerous.” May says quietly.

****   
**Peter disagrees with Ned, he felt that he had to follow him, they could possibly lead him to the man that dropped him in the lake.** ****

May looked at him disapprovingly.

“I had too!” He whispered harshly, puppy dog eyes activating along with a pout. May raised her chin as she struggled to combat the puppy eyes. It was like they were having a Pokemon battle that no one could see. May was about to lose when:

“You could have called me.” Tony told Peter, “Will you call me?” Tony looked at him with a look that told Peter the only acceptable answer was ‘yes’ and if he didn’t say that he will make him say yes. Peter knows that just means Karen will make Peter call him or call Tony herself. "C'mon, you get shot, you'll call me. Right?"

“Yes.” Peter doesn’t even know if what he was that was one-hundred-percent true. Tony knew it too, if the raised eyebrows and the look that reminded him so much of a dad it almost hurt. 

“Come over to the Tower when all this is over, I’ll add some wings to your suit.” Tony replied. Peter was honestly floored by the request he felt like he had mental-whiplash.

“Ye-yeah sure?” Wait- wings? “What do you mean ‘wings’?” He asked, confused.

“Exactly what I said, wings.” Tony seemed slightly amused by his confusion.

“Spiders don’t have wings.” He said dumbly.

“Last I checked you’re not a spider. Are you?” Tony tilted his head, his face serious but eyes showing humour. The room was quiet once more as everyone watched the conversation like it was pure comedy and the best comedy show they had ever seen.

  
“No.”

“Then we’ll add some wings to your suit.”

“What kind of wings?” Peter felt slightly frustrated with Tony, the frustration just barely evident in his voice.

Tony took pity on him and answered, “Just like those skydivers, it will connect from your arms to you legs - or hips. You’ll look like a flying squirrel, but more human-spidery.”

Peter snorted, “The Amazing Squirrel-Man.”

“The Amazing _ Flying _Squirrel-Man.” Tony added, a big grin on his face. Peter, unable to help himself, smiled back.

  
**Ned is more shocked than before, he didn't know he was dropped in a lake. ** ****

And the mood was instantly ruined.

**“Yeah, it was not good.”** ****

“Yeah, no shit.” MJ says what pretty much everyone else was thinking. May nodded to her.

“Humour helps me cope with ‘not-good’ stuff.” Peter tells MJ.

****  
**Schultz and Randy enter a room.** ****  
****  
**Ned whispers for Peter. ****Peter replies in a whisper, telling his friend to stay there. Peter raises his arm and leaves.**

**Ned calls in whisper. Ned is alone. ** ****  
****  
**Through a window, Tiny McKeever finally notices him. The teen knocks on the window, causing Ned to startle and turn around. “What are you doing?”** ****

“Ohh.” Tiny says, finally understanding. 

“Liar.” They say to Ned in a joking voice. Ned raises both arms half-way, his elbows bent, in a shrug.

****  
**Ned tries to act nonchalant, so he answers with: “Nothing.” His hand goes on his hip.** ****  
**  
** **Down the hall, Peter is trailing the two men. He jumps across the hallway.**

The people who notice Peter’s jump across the hall laugh in shock at the unexpected action.

** Ned tries to act nonchalant by putting one of his hands on his hips.** ****

Peter chuckles a bit, looking at Ned. “Loser.” Peter tells his friend softly. Ned sticks his tongue out. The friends smile at each other and share a soft laugh.

****  
**Tiny does a little nod of their head.** ****  
****  
**“Yeah. You good?” Ned nods and smiles charmingly.** ****  
**  
** **Tiny brings their arm back to gesture to the chess board. “Chess.”**

****   
**Peter sneaks down the steps of a staircase leading to a classroom. The two bad guys, Schultz and Randy, are busy searching through the room. Randy interrupts the quiet. Their boss didn't know they were here. ** ****

Peter scrunched up his brow, confused. They weren’t sent? Liz had a similar look on her face, though her eyes also held hope.

“They weren’t sent? That’s a good thing, right?” 

“No, that’s worse. The Vulture’s daughter is Liz, so if things went bad they would have been told to not hurt anyone - anyone but Peter.” The students voice was quieter at that last bit. “They went on their own, and unless they have even the smallest bit of kindness, they could have hurt or killed us.” The room was silent after that.

“Oh…” 

  
Peter felt guilt well up inside him. This was all his fault, they wouldn’t have been there if he had left it at home… but then Aunt May would have been in danger. He should make a superhero hide-out, maybe in an abandoned building, and maybe if he got a bit of bravery, in an abandoned warehouse.

******Schultz responds to the man, there was an energy pulse in the room.**  
****  
**Peter takes off his bag after cautiously walking down the stairs. ** ****

“Be careful, or else.” MJ warns Peter.

  
“Or else what?”

“Or else.”

“I feel like I’m watching a life reenactment of Tumblr.”

**Randy states that there is no sign of the weapon, and if it were here, it's gone. ** **Schultz turns towards Peter’s direction.**

People around the room tense up and gasp. Tony feels nervousness pool in him, did the kid get caught?

**Though, the camera reveals no one to be there. A chair sitting upside-down on a table shakes a small bit. **

Everyone sighs in relief.

“How fast are you?” Bucky tries to release nervous tension by distracting himself. In the past hour, he has surprisingly started to get attached to the kid, he’s like a puppy.

“I can move at the speed of fast.” Peter informs the supersoldier. Bucky looks confused.

**Noticing the anomaly, The man steps closer, his hand now resting on his gun. Once he is by the worktable, he starts scanning the area, but gives up soon after, and the two criminals leave.**

The crowd shifts in suspense as they watch. The teachers feel slivers of fear well up in them, despite the fact that all this already happened (which makes them feel worse) they hope that Peter doesn’t get hurt.

**The camera pans down and shows Peter clinging to the underside of the table. Peter reaches his arm out and shoots out a tiny robotic spider that attaches itself to one of the men’s shoes, then the robot spider climbs up the man's legs.** ****

Rhodey turns to Tony and nods his approval with an appraising grin. Tony smiles in pride, glancing at Peter with a small nod.

  
“Smart.” Bucky tells Peter.

“Thanks :)” Peter replies.

Ned jerks back, looking at him in horrified confusion. “What the fuck?” He whispered.

“How did you say that?!” 

**  
** **The screen skips. Ned is sitting on Peter’s bed with a web-shooter in his hands. The device projects a holographic 3D map of the city. **

“Woah! That’s cool.” Flash fanboys, his eyes are wide in wonder.

“Thanks,” Tony straightens up and tightens his imaginary tie. He does the thing with his suit jacket and dramatically throws one of his legs over his other leg. He takes his glasses and puts them on, he crosses his arms. “I made it.”

**Peter hops and lands with his legs crossed on the bed next to Ned. Ned is in awe, muttering is amaze at the tech.** ****

****"It's so awesome..."

Clint turns to Tony. "So, why did you add the holographic map?" The other superheroes turn to Tony.

"For that exact reason." Tony gestured to the two boys on screen. "I didn't intend for him to track alien-weapon-dealing criminals... Just drug traffickers, he's faught them before." Tony shrugs.

  
**Peter glances at Ned, agreeing with his friend.** ****  
****  
**Ned pokes the device and the model becomes more fine. The men were in Brooklyn, Peter mentions.** ****  
**  
** **It is now later. **

“I wish the movie had those Sponge-Bob time-cards.”

“Later.” Someone tries and fails to do the accent.

“Lay-tare.” Another students fails.

“Later.” A student succeeds and many students scream dramatically in awe. 

  
“Oh my god he did it!”

**Ned has been studying the hologram, and Peter is hanging upside down, he’s eating chips.**

“Damn, now I want chips.”

“Shut up, I’m hungry.”

“You could eat my ass.” Everyone freezes as if their fight, flight, or freeze instincts had been activated. whispers of 'what the fuck' and varying sentences are heard.

Slap. “Stop!” A whispered yell.  
  
**“Staten Island.” Ned announces.** ****  
**  
** **The sky is painted black, speckled with stars and a bright moon smudging out the darkness. Ned is lying on the floor while Peter, at his desk, works on something. Ned glances towards the map that is projected from the web-shooter. The van was leaving Jersey.**

“Damn, what are they doing?” Sam tilts his head with his arms crossed over his chest.

“Criminal stuff.” Peter tells the man simply. Peter shrugs.

"Did you really swing all the way to Jersey?" Bucky sounds surprised.

Peter makes a noise, "Eh, something like that." More like he got knocked unconscious in a DODC truck.

“Can you smell crime?” A student asks Peter.  
  
“I’m not Spider-Dog - I mean, Dog-Man, Man-Dog?” Peter looks confused. There are snickers and cackles in the crowd.

“The Amazing Spider-Dog, fifty-percent spider, fifty-percent dog, zero-percent human.” MJ smirks in amusement and a laugh leaves her nose.

  
“Stop!” Peters voice holds humour as he pleads.

**With one of his web-shooters, Peter projects an image of his spider mask on the wall.** ****

“Woah.” Many awe in wonder.

**It is later once more. Ned now lays on Peter’s bed. The hologram model suddenly begins to beep. Startled, Ned sits up, the Spider-Man mask being worn on his head. He grasps the hologram model next to him. Ned announces that they stopper.** ****  
****  
**Peter drops into frame, hanging from the ceiling like the spider man he is. He turns around, a little sleepy, and regards the model. “Maryland?” He questions.** ****

"Why couldn't they have just kept to New York? That would be much easier." 

"What is it with criminals and not staying in one state? You're doing bad stuff, if you wanted to get your ass kicked you could have done something other than torture people." Bucky says worryingly. 

"Are you okay, Buck?" Steve asks. He plops a hand on his friends shoulder.

"Absolutely." Bucky drones.

  
**Ned wonders what's there, confused. ** ****  
****  
**Peter queries, looking towards Ned. Maybe there was an evil lair?**  
****  
**“They have a lair?” Ned gasps, eyes widening.** ****

“Oh my god, they have a lair.” Charles sounds excited. “Do you think it’s in a mountain?”

Charles’ friend turns to him and stares weirdly at him. “No.”

“The highest mountains in Maryland are less than four-thousand feet at their peak.” Betty informs the two, who gape at her in surprise.

“You are a walking Fun Facts book.” Cindy tells her teammate.

  
“Thanks.” Betty smiled at her.

“What is MJ’s favourite flower?” Abe quizzes. MJ looks at the boy weirdly.

“I’m a walking Fun Facts book, not a god.” Betty sasses.

  
**“Dude. A gang with alien guns run by a guy with wings? Yeah, they have a lair.”** ****

“That’s so cool.” 

****  
**Ned nods. He laughs, that was badass. He then questions how Peter was going to go to their lair if it was three hundred miles away. **  
****  
**The two teens simultaneously turn to face the Academic Decathlon poster on Peter’s wall. “It’s not too far from D.C.”** ****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im sorry if this seemed short, it was 13 pages... like i said, chapter 9 is 28 pages so i hope that will make up for it! also, chapter 10 is 15 pages (only with the movie script)  
also please ignore the fact that i forgot peters suit had wings in the movie :)))  
update, 9/30/2019: arsonists lullaby by hozier fucking slaps and if you dont listen to it no updates for you >>>>:(((


	9. “Activating all systems.”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The truck speeds past a patch of grass. "Jump now." Peter springs off the truck, landing with a roll down the bank. He sprints across the bank, running towards an abandoned gas station. "Detecting three individuals."
> 
> "Now that's some super-secret vigilante stuff."
> 
> The camera shows Peter, from behind his back, observing the gas station in a crouch. The station is dark and desolate, with only a few trucks in its driveway. Peter whispers to Karen, “Why is their secret lair in a gas station? That’s so lame.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 28 pages!!! *nervous sweating* im sorry this took almost a month to post but im getting more depressed and slightly suicidal and the only motivation i have to do other than read fanfiction and the desperate need and want to sleep is play skyrim everyday... i really hope you like this ...

**The scene starts with the Midtown High Academic Decathlon team waiting by a bright yellow bus, all dressed in their yellow uniform jackets. Peter runs to the group. Abe announces to his team of Peters appearance. The group looks to the new arrival.** **  
  
**

“I was wishing I wouldn’t have to relive that day.” Abe says to himself. There are a few nods through the crowd.

**  
****Peter greets his team with a smile.****  
** **  
** **Someone-the-script-named-’Friend’-so-now-they’re-Charles welcomes him.****  
** **  
****Peter voices his hopes that he could rejoin the team. **

**  
** **Flash, who was waiting in the back, strides forward to face Peter angrily. He denies Peter reentry, believing he couldn't simplu saunter in and be welcomed back. ****  
  
**

Flash cringes in his seat, now learning the reason Peter joined the group then ditched them. Peter probably almost died and Flash would have spent the day taunting him for being a wimp… And all while he did that, he stanned Spider-Man and loved the superhero for being strong and going out every night to protect the borough... 

“You really joined us just so you can fight some alien-weapon dealing bad guys.” Mr. Harrington sighed as he stared at the screen. He rubbed his eyes with his hand, feeling his headache slowly getting worse. 

“You’re welcome.” Peter grinned at his teacher, knowing that the man probably didn't fully understand why he did what he did. Though there was the possibility that he did, and he just didn't want to lose a student… 'again.'

**  
** **Mr. Harrington walks out of the bus. He joyously welcomes Peter, then announces to Flash he's once again first alternate. F****lash turns to their teacher, appalled.****  
** **  
** **“He’s taking your place.” Abe explains with a laugh.** **  
  
**

There is loud and sometimes wheezing laughter. 

"Flash is so jealous of Peter." Flash heard someone say, and he couldn't deny that they were almost right. 

**Michelle materializes behind the team, sans uniform. She politely wonders if they can go, she was hoping to get some light protesting in beforr dinner.** **   
  
**

“Are you a ghost?” Someone started, the question directed to MJ.

MJ turned to the student, “Maybe.” 

The student seemed to not be able to know what to do, awkwardly stunned by her response. “I-” They made the physical motion and sound of ‘???’ and took a moment to gather their self, “I was just gonna… Make a joke about you appearing out of nowhere.”  
  


“Why didn’t you?” MJ messed with the student.

The student made a confused whimper. “Ehhhh?” They shrugged.

**“Protesting is patriotic." Mr. Harrington communicates, rounding everyone onto the bus. Flash sullenly shrugs off his jacket, then like the angsty teen he is, shoves it into Peter’s arms.** **  
  
**

Flash’s face is very red and hot as people turn to him in disappointment. Flash wishes he could disappear when Captain America turns his head slightly and looks at him out of the corner of his eye, the utter resigned acceptance and displeasure mixing in his expression and eyes shakes his soul. 

He, like almost every person in America after World War 2, had been raised to practically worship the ground the legendary Captain America had (and now does, which shook the whole country) walked on. Hitler is known and hated by almost everyone in the country, so of course Captain America is made a legend for punching the man two-hundred times, saving an entire infantry of kidnapped soldiers, and crashing a plane so half of America is wiped off the map. 

**  
** **The camera shows the bus travelling through the highway. Liz’s voice cuts through, their next topic was the moons of Saturn. The teammates are holding small bells, all focusing on Liz’s quizzing. ** **  
** **  
** **Cindy rings her bell, “The second law of thermodynamics.”** **  
** **  
** **Charles. “Frank Sinatra.”** **  
** **  
** **Flash rings his bell, “Fort Sumter.”** **  
** **  
** **Ding! Abe: “Flash is wrong.”** **  
  
**

The students burst out in short laughter, though some nearly fall to the floor, Peter sees with slight confusion. Ned, sitting in his seat next to Peter, giggles. Like a cause and effect chain, Peter snorts, then laughs, then Ned starts laughing. And now they are two idiots giggling and dying from laughter. 

"Are they okay?" Tony asks May, concerned. His eyes flick over to the two and then back at May. Peter lets out a sound like that of a dying dolphin.

"They're fine." May says as Ned lets out a burst of laugh that sounds like he's dying.

**Liz orders the team to focus in a calm voice, staring at her notes.** **  
** **  
** **Mr. Harrington interrupts the teen, telling her to not overwork the group.****  
  
**

**“Uh, strontium, barium, vibranium.”** **  
** **  
** **Liz smiles at Peter. “Very good, Peter.” She voices her gratitude of him being back.****  
  
**

Sam turned around in his his seat and smirks at Peter. Peter blushes.

**His phone vibrates in his pocket, and finds that Happy is calling him.** **  
  
**

“Why is he calling you? Is this when you left?” Charles wonders, looking around at his teammates before his glasses-covered eyes land on him.

“No, remember when we swam in the pool and Peter was there? Well, in the hotel, but not in the pool.” Liz reminds the team.

"You went in the pool?" Mr. Harrington asks almost-sternly.

The students ignore him. “Where did you go?” Abe looks at him curiously. The rest of the team makes questioning sounds and looks at him.

“I, uh, got locked in a vault.” Peter shuffles slightly in his seat, looking at his classmates.

“what”

**   
** **Liz is asking a question when Peter tentatively interrupts her, asking if he could take the call.**

"I'm assuming that every time you left or missed practice it was because you're a superhero?" Liz looks at Peter, she already knows the answer.

"No-. Maybe.. Yeah." Peter looks away from the girl, embarrassed by his stuttering.

**  
** **Liz looks at him under her lashes, as her face is directed at her notes. It was fine with her.** **  
** **  
** **Peter swiftly walks to the back, he answers his call. As he passes by, MJ looks at him curiously, raising her head up from her book. **

"I'm very observant. Also, don't tell me any of you wouldn't be curious." MJ said before anyone could ask.

"True." Sally nodded her head.

**Happy, shown to be in Avengers Tower with workers carrying stuff behind him, is talking. He got a blip on his screen, he left New York?** **   
  
**

“He’s tracking you?!” May shouted,

“No, he’s tracking my suit.” Peter corrects.

"Why?" May looks at Tony, eyes suspicious.

"If it wasn't for that tracker, Peter would have drowned in that lake." Tony tells the woman calmly. May tightens her lips for a short moment, swallowing as she processes what the genius said. She nods sadly.

**Decathlon rehearsal continues in the background. **

**  
** ** Peter pulls his phone away and mutters to himself. He then continues in a normal voice, it was nothing, it was just a school trip. **

**Peter takes a seat next to Ned, who is sitting in the back of the bus. He tells Happy that it was a complete violation of his privacy to track him without his own permission. Ned looks at him curiously, he points at the holographic duplicate. Peter whispers that it was different.** **   
  
**

“I can’t believe Spider-Man was on our bus talking to Happy Hogan and the only thing we did was practice.” Abe says loudly with a shake of his head.

“Well, how were we supposed to know?” Betty snorts.

“I don’t know, all his missed practice days - even if they weren’t near thirty, it’s still a lot. His sudden muscle, lack of asthma, sudden lack of glasses even after telling people he hates contacts and that they irritate his eyes. How he can do well in gym despite after years of never being able to do two sit ups or push ups.” MJ says nonchalantly, though with a hint of mocking in her voice. “But yeah, how were we supposed to know?”

Peter snorts loudly, body shaking slightly with laughter.

**The camera switches to show Happy with suspicion on his face, what's different?****  
** **  
** **The camera switches back to Peter. He says nothing is different, he is just on a trip with his team, it was no big deal. ****  
**

**Happy is quick to shut him down, he decides if it's no big deal. ** **   
  
**

“What?” Many students ask.

Peter answers the students rhetoric question, “It was confusing.” 

A student pipes up, “‘I’ll decide if it’s no big deal.’ You were just going to your Decathlon thing?” The student mocks Happy. Peter tightens his lip and looks away with an expression that tells anyone watching him that what the student quipped was incorrect.

"Where were you going?" A student asks, noticing the look on Peter’s face.

"Is everyone just gonna ignore the fact that he got locked in a vault?" MJ asks everyone. 

  
**An annoyed expression contorts Peter’s face. He mouths 'what?'****  
** **  
****Happy says after a moment that it sounds like it is no big deal, but reminds Peter that he's watching him.****  
  
**

A splatter of snorts erupts from the crowd.

  
**The bus nears Washington D.C. Above the team’s hotel entrance, the camera shows a banner announcing the ‘United States Academic Decathlon.’ The hotel shows signs of preparation for the Decathlon team. The students, with Liz in the front, approach the check-in area, looks of awe on their face as they all walk in. Liz orders her team to stay close. ** **   
  
**

“Holy shit, that place is huge.” A random student yells in awe.

“That’s what I said!” Charles relates to the teen. He gently slams his hands on the arms of his seat, bending over slightly.

“Nice!” The random student smiles.

**Mr. Harrington agrees.** **  
** **  
** **Charles announces his awe, the place was very big, he couldn't believe this was their competition site. ****  
  
**

“Ah! You did!” The random student cheers slightly.

“Yep!” Charles chirped.

**  
** **And Flash has to one up him, stating he has seen larger.****  
  
**

"Flash-" 

"I know…" Flash groans, interrupting what Abe was going to say.

**  
** **Abe interrupts the teen, informing his teen about a bird in the building.**

There is a sputter of laughter around the audience.

**  
** **Peter talks to Ned, asking if he brought his laptop. ******

"Oh. This is when we took out the tracker." Ned nods.

"When you what?" May asks the two boys sternly. They both tense up.

"When we… Got… Sleep?" Peter fails horrendously at trying to cover for them. Ned stares at his friend. Tony and all the Avengers stare at Peter. Everyone else is quiet.

"When will practice for Peter to become better at covering for himself start?" Natasha turns to Nick Fury, unimpressed.

"I'm going to move it to the day after we get out of here."

"Why would you try to take out the tracker that saved your life?!" May asks loudly. What would have happened if Peter got seriously injured and Tony wouldn't have known where he was to help him? No one would know where he was because the tracker would have been gone.

"I don't know!" Peter is having trouble thinking. He raises his arms slightly.

**  
** **The door of Peter and Ned's hotel room closes with the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign hanging on its handle. The two boys unpack their backpacks. Peter takes a wire and connects it to his Spider-Man suit. Neds laptop is full of complicated lines of code, it all flashing through the screen. A flashlight is held by Peter’s teeth, the teen working on his suit.** **  
** **  
****Ned questions what they were doing, despite being in the middle of doing just that.** **  
  
**

The Avengers and everyone else turn to Tony, who is staring dumbly at the screen. 

“Two Star Wars-loving nerds really hacked your suit?” Clint asks rhetorically, raising one his eyebrow at the genius. 

“Yeah, and what about it?” Tony sasses, not knowing what else to say. “I’m proud of the two, they hacked into my stuff.”

Ned nearly explodes with excitement, grappling randomly at Peter, trying to shake the boy. He wheezes. Ned leans his head on his friends shoulder, before bursting up in excitement. “Mr. Stark! Proud! Us!” 

"Yes I am." Ned no longer knows what to do with himself.

"Mr. Stark, stop, you're breaking him." Peter asks his mentor.

**Peter answers in a monotone tone, he had to follow the bad guys so he could find their boss before they go on the move again, and because he didn't want Tony to know about this. ** **   
  
**

"Why's that? You don't need to prove yourself to me, kid, if that's your reasoning for hacking into the suit I made you." Tony looks at Peter, an arm resting on the back of the chair he's in.

"You told me you didn't want me to go after these guys. So I did, but without you knowing… Which, now you do." Peter shrugs.

"What is it that I smell? Ah, it's the fresh scent of teenage rebellion." Tony makes a motion with his hand to mock smell the air. Peter wheezes in laughter.

**  
** **Ned turns to his partner in crime who was now lying to Iron Man. Peter denies that, reasoning that Tony just didn't understand what he was capable of.****  
****  
  
**

“Remember that time we made cookies?” Tony is interrupted by loud gasps and squeals. “There was too much butter and almost everything else, almost everything else. They came out… Well they didn't look or taste like cookies."

"Why are you telling everyone of our greatest mistake?" Peter frowns in embarrassment, his reddening face showing everyone his embarrassment.

"Because you can't make cookies." Tony responded.

"You couldn't either!" Peter fires back in defense. Tony goes to defend himself but the kid's right. "Also, you did most of the work." 

"Oh yeah… I forgot about that." 

**  
** **Ned eyes Peter with nervousness in his eyes. Peter carefully removes the tracking device from the suit. Peter pulls the flashlight out from his mouth. He put the tracking device on a lamp, telling Happy to enjoy tracking a lamp. ****  
  
**

"I can't believe you lied to the person who, arguably, has the most political influence in the world." Liz shakes her head, honestly impressed that despite doing all that, Peter still makes - albeit horrible - cookies with the superhero.

"It's easy when the man thinks I can't even make cookies." Peter grins mischievously.

"Master criminal." Charles jokes with his teammate. The students laugh in amusement.

**  
** **Peter sits the small device on a lamp, then turns back to the suit. Ned continues working on his laptop. There were oodles of other subsystems in the suits coding. Peter hums in curiosity, Ned smirke at the screen. The subsystems were disabled by the 'Training Wheels Protocol.' ****  
  
**

MJ snorts suddenly. 

"You really named his," Sam starts, he waves at the screen when he stops for a second. "Thing the Training Wheels Protocol?"

"Yes I did, he's a baby." Tony nods, his smile is more of a smirk.

"I'm not a baby!" Peter shouts, a large frown on his face.

Tony disagrees with the boys statement, "Yes you are, I'm almost forty years older than you."

"I can drive a car!" 

"Barely." May says quietly. Peter looks at her, betrayed. He places a hand over his heart,

"I can't believe you've done this." Hs quotes in a bad Australian accent.

"Thor can do a better Australian accent and he's not even from Earth." Natasha fires at the teen.

"Stop bullying my baby- I mean, the baby." Tony tries to joke but ends up feeling embarrassed. "I said nothing."

"You know memes?" Peter asks the spy, eyes large and hopeful.

"I do." Natasha smiles at the boy. "Not as much as kids from your generation but more than this idiot." Natasha flicks Clint's head.

"Why?" The archer cries.

"Because!" Natasha yells back.

**  
** **Peter looks at Ned, before hopping up onto the bed next to him. **

**The words on the screen, 'Training Wheels Protocol' are written in red. The codes show that the protocol is currently active and that 'Stark Industry Key Identifier' should be entered to disable it. Ned chuckles in amusement.** **  
** **  
****Peter tells his friend to turn off the protocol.****  
  
**

"There's a reason I put in the Training Wheels Protocol." Tony looks at Peter, his eyebrow raised just barely.

Peter stares blankly at Tony before announcing to the man, "You underestimate the power of my dumbass bisexuality, Stark." Tony now looks terribly confused and slightly worried.

**  
** **Ned disagrees, saying that saying it's a bad idea, there was probably a reason for it to be blocked. ****  
** **  
****He didn't need training wheels. Peter gets onto his bed and starts jumping on it. He was sick of Tony treating him like a kid. ****  
  
**

"Peter, you're sixteen." Tony tells the kid

"So? I can crash a plane, while on top of it, and come out fine." Peter tries to defend himself.

"You can't even enlist to be a soldier." Tony looks at the boy sternly. "I was going 

**  
** **Ned looks at his friend. Peter was a kid, he's fifteen. A few years off being an adult, sure, but he's still growing.****  
** **  
****Peter scoffs, he was a kid who had the ability to stop a vehicle with his hands. ****  
** **  
****Ned worries this is illegal. ****  
** **  
** **Peter jumps down to kneel on the floor beside Ned. Doing this gave him a chance go prove himself, he can handle it. He asks once more for his friend to disable it. ****  
  
**

"You need to stop giving me your puppy eyes." Ned looks at Peter, eyes pleading. 

"Never." 

**  
****Ned tries to discourage his friend, he didn't think this was a great idea.****  
** **  
** **Peter whispers, "The guy in the chair."** **Ned, almost won over, tried to ignore it. ****Peter amps up his puppy eyes.**

**Ned, defeated, sighs and types code reluctantly. A blue light pulses through the suit briefly. Peter and Ned look at it.** **  
  
**

"Woah! That was so cool!" Flash bursts out. He blushes in embarrassment, but at least everyone knows he's a fan of Spider-Man already. "Was that the code removing the protocol?"

"Yeah. I don't know why it flashed like that, but it was cool." Peter responds to Flash's question. Flash looks like he was really listening to what Peter said.

"I thought it'd be cool of the suit did that when I was supposed to remove the protocol." Tony answers Peter's question. 

**  
** **Peter, now donning the suit without the mask, zips up his hoodie to hide it and puts on his hood. **

"You fight bad guys everyday and yet you still do that?" Charles is unimpressed. "You look suspicious, anyone would stare at you when you look like that."

"What else was I supposed to do?" Peter wonders, tilting his head towards his classmate. 

"Not look like that." Is Charles simple answer. Peter should have known he wasn't gonna get a proper answer from the teen.

"You could have just kept your hood off your head, or worn a sweater instead of that." MJ gestures to on-screen-Peter. Her voice was nonchalant as she told him. "You look like you're going to do something suspicious, especially with your hood up. The black also looks suspicious, you barely wear black and the fact that you are now…" MJ trails off and shrugs.

"Should I be concerned?" Peter sounds worried. He also looks suspicious of the girl. "Are you doing anything I should be concerned about?"

MJ is unimpressed, "The fact that you asked that, anyone would say 'no, I'm not'."

"This thief didn't say 'no, I'm not' when I asked her." Peter counters. MJ scrunches her face and tilts her head.

**He peeks out the door and looks around. The halls are empty. Peter turns back to Ned, the glowing core was evidence, it has to be kept safe. Ned grabs the glowing core. ****Peter switches on the tracker. The men were moving. Peter rushes out of the room ** **  
** **  
****Ned tells the superhero to be careful.****  
  
**

“Ned is such a good bro.” Flash declares suddenly.

Ned hums, two emotions conflicting with each other. His bully just said he was a good bro, a classmate of his that he knew for years

**As Peter tries to walk down the hall undetected, Liz runs up to him in her bathing suit. He greets her, caught off guard by her sudden appearance.****  
** **  
** **Liz whispers to him, this was perfect timing. The team was going swimming. She waves the students behind her forward.** **  
  
**

"You shouldn't have gone swimm-" Mr. Harrington started, but Charles interrupted him.

"Sir, we are teenagers, not four-year-olds. We don't need adult supervision." There was a chorus of 'yeah's from the Decathlon team.

"If one of us started drowning or something I would have gone to you, you're a teacher and I trust that you know protocol for this sort of thing," Liz's eyes turned stern as she watched Mr. Harrington for approval that he does know the proper protocols for life-threatening situations. The teacher nodded. 

**The team sneaks by, giggling to each other. Sally and Cindy greet him. F** **lash slaps Peter’s butt. P eter yowls, voice high in offense. **

“Slapping someone is a form of assault, you know.” Natasha says in a faux nonchalant tone.

Flash sputters, face red, “It was only a joke.” He knows it’s a weak defense, though.

"Doesn't matter if it was a joke." MJ's voice holds anger that makes Peter wonder how Flash isn't combusting in an explosion of flames and ashes. "You touched him without his consent. Slapping women is bad, right?" MJ's voice holds a certain sternness and warning that shows there is only one acceptable answer.

"Of course-" Flash suddenly looks horrendously discouraged and seems to shrink.

**Peter makes an excuse: he was going to continue studying in the business center.****  
** **  
** **Liz shakes her head in amusement. He didn't need to study. He was the smartest guy she had ever met.****  
  
**

Sam once again turns around and raises an eyebrow. "Why'd you ditch her?" He asked, seeming to be unimpressed with Peter.

Peter furrows his brows and looks at the man, "Her dad was making alien tech and selling it. He was gonna steal from Stark Industries. All of which are illegal. Also his weapons can turn a man to ash."

Sam nods slowly, accepting the answer. He looks away, his expression showing a bit of chastise as if his intelligent was questioned.

**  
** **Peter looks at Liz, face holding bewildered flatter.** **  
** **  
****Liz continues, a rebellious activity before competition is good for morale.**

**  
** **Peter tilts his head.****  
** **  
** **Liz nods her head, looking away with a blush. She heard it in a TED Talk, she also read a coaching book. Liz tightens her lips in embarrassment, she smiles and nods again.** **  
  
**

"This is a romcom."

"It's a Spider-Man movie, though."

"Are you sure about that?"

**Peter looks impressed, this must mean a lot to Liz.** **   
**

**Academic Decathlon was their future, she wasn't going to screw this up. She changes the topic. They raides the minibar and the candy bars they have costed around eleven dollars. Liz tosses a candy bar at Peter** **  
  
**

"Are we sure this is a Spider-Man movie and not a romcom?" Cindy jokes. Many students laugh, making jokes about Liz and Peter.

Liz flushes and looks down, feeling a bit guilty her feelings for Peter are gone. She knows it's not her fault, she didn't have the full context of a lot of stuff. Now she does, and everything seems to make sense, almost everything. 

She can hear the tightness in Peter's voice whenever he talks about her dad, which confuses her a bit. Only a bit, she knows Peter fought her dad on a plane, on top of a plane, and then it crashed. That is without a doubt traumatic. She can feel her confusion for Peter's reactions dissipate. Did her dad crash the plane?

**  
** **Charles and Sally urge Liz to come with them. Liz rushes to the others.** **  
  
**

"Would you have gone in the pool if you didn't have Spidey-Business to attend to?" A student starts to psychoanalyze Peter, but the only thing he can focus on is 'Spidey-Business'.

"'Spidey-Business'?" Peter's tone holds the verbal embodiment of '???'.

"Yeah." 

Peter now considers the question and the only answer his brain comes to is, "No. Absolutely not." He starts a tangent, "What is the point of baths at this point? We have showers now, we don't need to sit in gross bowls of dirty water. Baths are gross, the water is gross. What's the fun in going to see the ocean, too? It's pretty, but going in it? There are so many things in the water, you could be swimming directly above, uh, man-eating creatures. Or jellyfish." 

May feels concern well up in her as the boy continues. She knew he didn't take baths anymore, and she has known why ever since he had a night terror once, screaming in his sleep and fighting the blankets… She knew he hated bodies of water, water was fine as long as it couldn't hurt him (dumped over his head, bobbing for apples (she distinctly remembers the look of disgust on his face when she took them apple picking. Her friend gave her a delicious apple crumble recipe.), going swimming. Showers were off the table for a few months, he gave himself sponge baths.) 

Peter is shaking by the end of his tangent, and she walks over along with Tony to hug him, Ned under both their arms as he was the first to hug him.

**  
** **The camera shows the Decathlon teammates swimming in an indoor swimming pool, but Liz is sitting on a wall between the pool and a spa chatting with her friends.** **  
** **  
** **The angle switches, showing Peter wearing his suit, minus the mask. Peter, with a depressed expression, watches Liz through a window on the roof. **

"Why didn't you just go in the pool for a few minutes?" Sally wonders, tilting her head towards Peter. The entire room looks towards Peter in curiosity.

"Everyone thought I was a noodle but I'm not, it would have been weird if I took of my shirt and suddenly had a six-pack."

"Yeah, you're lasagna now." Ned adds. Peter wheezes in confusion. "Lasagna is bigger than a noodle." Ned explains.

**Peter sighs, and steps back from the window, tightening the straps on his backpack. Peter slides on the mask. A brief flash of red and blue expands from the spider emblem on his chest.** **  
  
**

"What was that?" Bucky asks.

"Uh, the suit, once connected to my mask, finished updating like a computer." Peter explained, he never really thought to study why the suit flashed, so it was more of an educated guess.

"Excuse you, you're suit is more than a computer, it's better than one, actually. If you turned your suit into a computer it would be nearly as advanced as a super computer." Tony says in faux offense.

"Wait really?" Peter asks in surprise, his eyebrows raised and eyes wide as he looks at his mentor.

"Yeah, it has a built in AI and more storage than a StarkPhone." Stark Industries makes products more advanced than a lot of things. The phones have a lot of storage capacity, the batteries last longer, the cameras can zoom in almost like a microscope and zoom out very far due to the multiple rounded cameras. The phones also all have an AI (though it isn't half as advanced as Karen or FRIDAY, and all have many restrictions that make it more like a more advanced Siri.) 

**  
** **A feminine, robotic voice speaks up, "Good evening, Peter."** **  
  
**

"Who is that?" 

MJ lets out a barely audible gasp, "Karen?" She thinks back to the conversation on Peter's AI.

"Yep!" Peter chirps.

**  
** **Peter flinches in confusion, looking around. ****Suit Lady continues, "Congratulations on completing the rigorous Training Wheels Protocol and gaining access to your suit’s full capabilities."** **  
  
**

Snorts rise from the audience, the irony of it amusing the majority of the viewers.

"Yeah, congratulations on your hard work." Abe jokes, causing a few people to laugh.

**  
** **The camera shows Peter’s view from inside the mask, changing to different view modes. Peter's voice is slightly awkward as he thanks the lady.****  
  
**

"Is that what it looks like inside the mask?" The voice is full of awe, their eyes taking in every detail on the big screen.

"Yeah, it can show translations, my webs, the identities of people, and texts or social media-stuff." Peter lists. The original speaker lets out a sound of awe.

**  
** **"So where would you like to take me tonight?" Suit Lady asks.** **  
** **  
** **Peter stutters as he answers, he put a tracker on a bad guy. He put his hands on his hips and nodded as if he were proud of himself.****  
** **  
** **"Tracker located."** **  
** **  
** **The screen shows Suit Lady creating a path that leads to the bad guy. "Plotting course to intercept target."** **  
** **  
****As long as he made it back in time for Decathlon, it was fine.Peter lets loose a web and swings. He lands on a truck. The truck drives past a banner with 'United States Academic Decathlon' written on it.****  
  
**

"You were a few hours late." Liz jokes with Peter. Peter giggles, a smile on his face.

"Only a few." Charles joins in. The team laughs.

"Yeah, you missed the competition but at least you were there." Sally stops suddenly, as does the rest of the group.

"Holy shit you saved our lives." It seems to set in again that their nerdy teammate is also a superhero.

**  
** **Peter switches to a different truck, raging down the road. Peter, in his spider suit, crouches on the roof of the truck, with the dark night sky in the background. "One hundred meters from destination and closing." Suit Lady declares.** **  
  
**

“Karen is so cool.” Betty says. She can’t believe an entire AI is inside a suit that looks like it’s as thin as a bed sheet. The thing had a GPS and who knows what else. Hopefully she can learn more about the AI later in the movie (Which isn’t just a movie but a showcase of what happened in the months leading up to Homecoming.)

“Why did you name the AI ‘Karen’?” Cindy wondered, turning to Peter. “Is it an abbreviation for something or is it just called Karen?”

“I don’t know why I called her Karen. She’s really nice and caring-” He cut himself off with a short laugh, “Hah, care-ing. Like, Kar-en? Get it? Maybe that’s why I called her Karen.”

  
**The truck speeds past a patch of grass. "Jump now." Peter springs off the truck, landing with a roll down the bank. He sprints across the bank, running towards an abandoned gas station. "Detecting three individuals."** **  
  
**

"Now that's some super-secret vigilante stuff."

**  
** **The camera shows Peter, from behind his back, observing the gas station in a crouch. The station is dark and desolate, with only a few trucks in its driveway. Peter whispers to the voice, he found it lame that their lair was in a gas station.****  
  
**

“I don’t think a gas station is their secret lair, they’re probably just waiting for something.” MJ observes. “A gas station isn’t big enough to make as many weapons as they do, and it’s close to a highway so therefor there would be cops nearby, which is a bad thing for them since they’re doing criminal stuff.”

The Avengers collectively turn to the girl with wide eyes, impressed at her quick gauging of the situation. “I like her.” Natasha declares, turning to Fury, one of her eyebrows raised and face expectant.

Fury sighs, making a vague motion with his hand, “Have at it.”

Natasha turns back to MJ, “Would you rather meet up at a park, the compound, or a restaurant?” She lists off meeting places. Natasha can see the girl had potential for many things. MJ is smart and able to figure things out, she goes to a school for kids with higher-than-average intellect if that says anything.

MJ takes a few seconds to put a finger on what the spy was asking, “Do you want to train me?” MJ asks slowly, tilting her head a bit.

Natasha nods, pleased that the girl isn’t rushing into it. “You have potential, if you put your mind to it you could probably take over the world-”

“She could.” Peter and Ned say in unison. Natasha smirks at them, a tilt of her head in acknowledgement, before looking back at the girl.

“We could meet up and get to know each other-”

“You could get to know me.” MJ corrects. Natasha smiles, the girl wasn’t wrong. If Natasha determines that the girl wouldn’t be cut out for it, she didn’t want to hurt her; She still likes her, if Natasha is going to be honest.

“And if I think you have the skill, I could mentor you. Only if you want to, but you don’t have to decide that right now, we’ll determine that later.” 

The room is quiet as they watched the proceedings, all eyes wide as they watch their intimidating classmate get an offer by the Black Widow to become her mentee. “Are you gonna become a future Black Widow?” Sally asks quietly in shock.

MJ shrugs. “Where would the best location be?” 

“At the compound. Less strangers.” No one would be able to hear them and spread private information, the only interruptions would be an Avengers-level mission (or Clint blowing up something.)

MJ nodded, looking shocked that this was happening, she composed herself not-so-subtly. “Um, date and time?”

“We could trade numbers and I’ll make sure the date is at a time when we’re both free.” They trade numbers and MJ turns to Peter and Ned,

“That happened, right?”

Peter nods while Ned looks like he just witnessed Jesus come down from heaven and say that life is a simulation then snap-up a unicorn and run away. “I can’t believe you’re gonna become a future Black Widow.”

“Might become a future Black Widow.” MJ corrects the boy.

“Yeah, but you’re MJ, you will become a future Black Widow.” MJ flicks Peter on the cheek, causing him to flinch a small fraction in shock, “What was that for?” Peter pouts.

**  
** **Peter leaps onto a sign and climbs on top of the gas price sign. He tilts his head, then asks the AI what the men where doing. ****  
** **  
** **Suit Lady responds with a question, “Do you want to hear what they’re saying?” Peter is shocked, and allows her to enable it.****  
** **  
  
**

“Yes you can, I put everything in your suit.” Tony responds, smirking slightly. There’s nothing wrong with being proud of himself. That skin-tight suit has a freaking parachute in it, an AI, GPS, had a tracker (had…), and a heater. And hundreds of web combinations. And many more.

“What about a toaster?” Rhodey tried to prove his friend wrong, but knowing him the suit probably did have a toaster in it.

“It’s not impossible, if you turn the heater up high enough you could toast bread.” Tony responded. Rhodey had a deadpan expression as he stared at the genius.

“I’m not even surprised.” Rhodey shakes his head, looking down at his lap.

**“Activating Enhanced Reconnaissance Mode.”** **  
  
**

Betty’s jaw drops. A GPS and now an ‘Enhanced Reconnaissance Mode’? And you could toast bread on the suit?

**  
** **The camera reveals the masks suit display closing in on the van, the display showing the heat signals emitted from the men inside. There are three people in the van who are quietly speaking. Masons voice is heard, he got the gauntlet cleanup in Lagos. The design was his own.****  
  
**

Wanda, Sam, Natasha, and Steve grimace at the mention of Lagos.

“Gauntlet?” Steve silently wonders to himself. The gauntlet Rumlow had? Steve can’t help but wonder how they got that, they’re in New York and the gauntlet was in Nigeria. What connections do they have?

**  
** **Peter was impressed. He leans is as if to get a better view or something.** **  
** **  
****Randy mentions his disbelief that the destruction of the Triskelion was still getting cleaned.****  
  
**

Bucky and Steve purse their lips.

  
“It’s been years, how are they still cleaning that up?” Steve questions quietly.

“You dropped a few Helicarriers on the Triskelion and the Potomac, yeah they’re still gonna be cleaning up.” Tony responded, slightly miffed about how the situation was dealt with. They could have dealt with it in a less messier way, probably didn’t even need to take down the Helicarriers.

“How else were we supposed to deal with it? Hydra took over SHIELD!” Steve yelled.

“You could have asked me for help, I helped build the damn things, I had backdoors in their codes!” Tony stood up, raising his arms half-way so his hands were level with his ears.

Steve stood up, his shoulders squaring. “We couldn’t trust anyone-!”

Tony dropped his arms, his glare angry yet resigned. “You couldn’t trust me, your teammate, to help take down Hydra?” Tony’s voice was quieter. “If you hadn’t noticed, I was someone Hydra was gonna try to kill with Project Insight. I highly doubt Hydra would kill one of their own with it.”

“Tony is also a genius and has a lot of political power, highly valuable no matter what side he is on.” Fury mentioned. Steve shot a betrayed look in Fury’s direction, who simply shrugged.

Steve turned back to Tony. “I didn’t know. But what if you were?” Steve counters.

“He’s your teammate and Howard's son-” Rhodey was interrupted by Tony, who replies to what Steve said,

“But I wasn’t, and I’m not. If you had asked me, you wouldn’t have had to dump all their files onto the internet, you wouldn’t have had to take down the Helicarriers. I spent months cleaning up the data dump. You realise you dumped everything on the internet? Including Bartons stuff? All your secrets and your spy-friends’ secrets?”

Natasha knew that, but it still felt like ice in her veins when it was brought up. She regretted what she did when Clint called, talking about how he was on a mission and his partner tried to kill him. She realised at that moment that when she released everything, she also released Clint’s secret family. Natasha and Clint didn’t talk for a while, but she was happy when he called her for the first time in a while. Laura and Natasha still talked a bit, not much, but Laura understood why she did it, mostly. 

Steve was silent. He never really thought about that. He looked at Barton, whose expression was angry. “I had to take down Hydra… It was what I thought was necessary in the moment.”

“You guys need some family therapy.” Abe said.

**  
** **Schultz responds that he loves it. The Avengers continue creating messes, they keep getting rich. Mason declares that their target was inbound ****  
** **  
** **  
****Peter excitedly realises they were in the middle of a heist. He could potentially all the guys red-handed. He informs the suit lady that he was going to move to get a better visual ****  
  
**

“You sound too excited to be stopping a heist.” Wanda tried to joke, the tension in the room was choking her.

“Heists are interesting, especially since I had been following them for a bit.” Peter replies, looking at the witch. Wanda nodded.

**  
** **“Would you like me to engage Enhanced Combat Mode?” Suit Lady queries** **  
  
**

“God, you really do have everything in the suit, huh?” Betty felt like she was drowning in excitement.

“Apparently.” Peter smiles a bit, “She also has a facial recognition scanner, and she can take or ignore calls.”  
  
“Or end them.” Tony remarks quietly, mentioning the time when, less than an hour before the ferry was cut in half, Peter had ended their call.

“I’m sorry sir but you interrupted me, these guys were selling weapons.” Peter not-really-apologizes.

“Tony was calling you and you ended it?” Bruce asks, joining in on the two’s conversation.

“I was complimenting him and he just said ‘uhhh end call!’” Tony sighs in fake annoyance, “Ugh, kids these days.” He shook his head in exaggerated exasperation.

**Peter got into a fighting position as he agreed for it to be activated.****  
** **  
** **“Activating Instant Kill.”** **  
  
**

There was a loud burst of shocked laughter.

“Instant Kill?!” Ned was wheezing, then he looked concerned. 

“I did not use the Instant Kill mode.” Peter responded sternly, he never would. He never wanted to kill anyone.

**  
** **The eyes of Peter’s spider suit switch to tiny red dots. Peter flinches back, shaking his hands. He ordered her to turn it off, he didn't want to kill anyone.****  
** **  
** **“Deactivating Instant Kill.”** **  
  
**

“Why do you have Instant Kill?” May asks Peter, then turns to Tony.

Peter shrugs, voice confused as he answers, “I don’t know.”

“I added it in as a ‘incase of emergencies’ thing. I’ll be honest, I was shocked when you activated it for the first time, then I was confused when you deactivated it.” Tony reminisces. That confused Peter,

“Instant Kill came with Karen, right?” Tony nodded. “So that means you knew I deactivated the Training Wheels Protocol, right?” Tony hesitated, then nodded and responds with,

“Well yeah.”

“Then why didn’t you do something?” Peter sounds slightly incredulous and surprised.

“I wanted to see how you’d deal with it all. And you did well, so I’m… Proud of you.” Peter gapes at his mentor, eyes shining a bit. He grins and fidgets in his seat, seeming to want to jump up and hug the man, or just bounce around and off the walls (it was an interesting sight when Tony walked into the gym and saw Peter literally bouncing off the walls.)

  
**The eyes shift back to their normal width and color. Peter hops off the sign and goes to release a web… He falls on his face on the hard asphalt ground. **

“What the hell was that?” Ned wheezes, bending over with laughter.

“My webs weren’t the sticky webs I use to swing or sling things towards me.” Peter answered, sounding embarrassed. His face was slightly red and heated.

**  
** **Schultz looks around. ****  
** **  
** **Peter grunts. Why did he fall? He aimed at his target, what happened? ****  
** **  
** **“You jumped off the sign and landed on your face.” **

**Peter aims at a sign and fires, web pellets spewing from his shooter.** **  
**   
“What’s wrong with you suit?” Ned asks, turning to Peter in confusion.

“It’s a web-shooter combination.” Peter explains, “I have loads of different ones.”

Ned raises his brows, eyes becoming wide in interest. “Woah, how many?” Other students around him look at Peter in interest.

“Many.” Peter answers. 

**Peter runs towards a sign and hides behind it. What was wrong with his web-shooters?**

**  
** **“Rapid-fire is the default for Enhanced Combat Mode.” Suit Lady answers.**

“But Spider-Man swings? Why shouldn’t the web-swinging-web be the default?” A student asks.

Peter turns to Tony, who was already looking at him. Tony licks his lips as he looks around with a shrug, “Why not rapid-fire?”

No one made a sound as no one could disagree, and if someone did, the silence was discouraging.  
  
**Peter asks incredulously why he would need rapid fire.****  
  
**

“I was so ignorant to all the possibilities.” Peter shakes his head in disappointment.

  
**“Would you like to see more options?”** **The camera view switches to show Peter’s hands from his point of view. dozens of varying web combinations are shown from which he can choose. “You have 576 possible web-shooter combinations.”** **  
  
**

“Tony why are there so many web-shooter combinations.” May turns to Tony with her eyebrows raised, her face holding shock at the large amount of combinations that Tony had to have spent time thinking of.

“Why not? What if he needs a web grenade, and the rapid-fire is for stunning enemies.” Tony explains. May seems to understand, if her nodding is anything to go by.

“Web grenade?!” Betty shouts astonishment. Betty fidgeted in her seat in excitement. “What other combinations do you have?”

“Uh…” He counts with his fingers despite the fact that he is remembering all five-hundred-seventy-six webs and he doesn’t have thirteen fingers, unlike SpongeBob. He seems to remember that fact when he runs out of fingers, looking down awkwardly at them. “Taser web, there’s a splitter web, a net web, timer web, ricochet web… And hundreds more.” Peter listed off, eyes flicking over the whole room as he tries to remember the webs. 

“Net web?” Charles wonders. “Why would you need a net web?”

“Uh… Why not?” Peter doesn’t have a proper answer.

**  
** **The viewers can practically hear Peter’s awestruck expression. ****  
******

**Schultz orders his companions to wait inside the car. ** **  
  
**

“Oh god…” People groan at seeing the villains.

**Mason stops his accomplice, requesting that he put his dampers on, else he would shatter his arm.** **   
**

“I’m sorry, what?” Cindy asks, staring at the screen bafflement. 

  
“How can a glove shatter your arm I’m-...” 

“Didn’t that thing spin a bus?” Ned remembers Homecoming night. The guy punched a bus and it started flipping, Ned remembers the terror he felt for his friend.

“What?! That guy tipped the bus?!” Principal Morita shouted.

“yeah, it was not good.” Ned answers.

"It hurt." Peter chirped in, remembering being tossed straight through the bus, then tumbling through the inside of the bus as it span.

** Schultz asksed where the dampers were, looking at his gauntlet.** **  
** **  
** **Peter continues looking down at the hundreds of options his web-shooters displayed over his hands. He choses one.****  
** **  
** **“Great choice.” Suit Lady complimented. The combination turns red. She asks if he would like to set that as the default. ****  
** **  
** **Peter aims and fires an electrified web at a neon sign, causing it to blink on and off. Peter panics.** **  
  
**

“Peter, stop being a disaster.” MJ deadpans, swiveling calmly towards Peter.

“No, I don’t think I will.” Peter rejects, looking at MJ with a look that could be compared to that of an old man’s, what with the way it looks wise and old.

“Peter, you are a disaster.” MJ tells Peter. Peter shoves his hand into his pocket and pulls out an Uno reverse card. MJ looks at Peter incredulously.

**  
** **The camera shows a view of Peter struggling with his electrified webs through the window. He keeps zapping, and the sign keeps flashing neon. The criminals in the car are oblivious. “Push that in.” Mason directs, pointing with his finger.** **  
  
**

The audience wheezes and laughs, taking great pleasure in Peters utter failure in that moment.  
  


“Peter, what did I just tell you?” MJ says with acted exasperation. She looks at Peter with faux tiredness.

“I didn’t know how to work all the new webs!” Peter joins her.

  
**“Right here?” Schultz questions** **  
** **“No, no, the other-”** **  
** **“This one right here?” Schultz points at something with his finger.** **  
** **Mason nods. “Yeah, push. **

**Peter sprints away from the truck, behind the gas station, and leaps on multiple trucks to reach the roof of the building. Peter sounds tired when he asks what the shock was. ****  
** **  
** **Suit Lady answers with, “Taser webs.”** **  
  
**

“Those were the taser webs?” Betty asks, scrunching her brows. She laughs, suddenly. “Cool.”

“Now that I remember it, it was pretty funny.” Peter nods, chuckling. “Although in the moment, it was honestly terrifying.” He remembers worrying that his webs were broken, and that he would get caught and killed by the bad guys. 

**  
** **Peter sounds confused now, the tiredness still present, though. He didnt want taser webs. ** **  
** **  
****Suit Lady notes that he seems to be quite unfamiliar with his web-shooter choices. She wonders if he would like to go through a refresher course.****  
  
**

“Do it.” May and MJ instruct. Peter hides his embarrassment.

**  
** **Peter kneels on the roof to get a better look at the men. Peter tells her that she can choose. ****  
  
**

“Peter…” **  
  
**

**“Sure thing.” Suit Lady chirps.** **  
** **  
** **The camera switches to the inside of the DODC convoy truck. A man speaks.****  
  
**

People make confused sounds at the switch to an unfamiliar person.

“Is that one of the Vultures workers?”

Peter remembers back to that night. The way person spoke sounded like a truckers, and Toomes’ workers were trying to take stuff from Damage Control trucks… So that would mean the guy was the truck driver for the DODC. “They probably work for DODC.” Peter answers.

There are looks of confusion at his answer. “Why would Damage Control be in this?” Sally questions.

“Because Toomes is stealing from them.” Peter replies simply.

Silence.

**  
** **  
** **The Vulture’s bald henchman examines the highway through a pair of binoculars. Three trucks are seen drawing close to the gas station. ****  
****  
** **Peter identifies Vulture flying overhead in his wing suit.** **  
  
**

Liz frowns, she has found that she doesn’t like when her dad is on screen, so far he has punched a guy, made weapons, nearly killed Peter, and turned one of his workers to literal ash… What happened to the man who brought her out to ice cream and watched funny movies with her?

**Peter sounds scared when he informs the voice that the figure was 'him.'****  
** **  
** **Toomes soars over a line of transport trucks. The masks eyes glow green in the dark.****  
** **  
****Mason instructs him to deploy the anchors. Toomes releases two cables onto the roof of the rearmost truck. He drops a small cube onto the trailer, which separates into four pieces as it lands in a rectangle, they create a glowing portal through the roof.****  
  
**

Peter nods just barely as he understands how the Vulture got in the truck.

“Is that the thing that the guy… Ma-. Mason used to get a drink? The thing that made a portal?” Flash inquiries.

“Yeah.” Peter replies simply, as there was nothing else to say. The second-long silence was awkward. 

**  
****Toomes detaches himself from his suit, he drops down and falls through the portal. The truck driver seems unaware of what’s happening in the back.** **  
  
**

The audience of students, teachers, and multiple PhD-owning people are silent as they watch and try to figure out how the matter-phasing device works. Tony mentally plans to make a call with DODC to see if they have the device in their storage.

  
**Inside the van, Mason can be seen surrounded by wires and screens. He speaks into his walkie-talkie, there was no distress signal, he was clear.**

**  
** **The camera view changes to show Toomes’ green-filtered view from the inside of the trailer. Cage-like boxes contain various items. Toomes rips the door off from a cage containing tech. **

**Peter climbs to the top of the truck and tentatively pokes the purple portal. His fingers go through like he’s touching water. Peter crawls on his legs down the top of the truck as Toomes comes into view, the older man kneels and zips a duffle bag.**

“Woah, that’s cool. It’s like water, but it’s not supposed to be water?” A student mumbles in wonderment.

“How does the portal work?” Cindy asks Tony who has no idea how it works. Tony tries to come up with ways it might. Perhaps it can turn the matter inside the rectangle into a gas? But gasses take the shape of the container it is inside… Maybe the rectangle isn’t flat? Maybe it’s a cube? But if that was so, how would Peter have stayed Peter, and not be turned into a gas once his fingers went through the portal? Maybe it’s a freaking wormhole and instead of launching Peter to the other side of the universe, it is contained to the blocks…

Who knows, not him. Not yet. He takes out his phone and makes a note to see how it works.  
**  
****Toomes jumps through the portal and jumps through the portal and lands on the roof. Peter shoots a web at the criminals bag, slinging it towards himself.** **  
** **  
** **“Hey, Big Bird! This doesn’t belong to you!” Toomes’ green eyes glare intimidatingly in Peter’s direction. ****  
  
**

Liz feels her heart break at the sound of Peter’s voice when her dad glared at him.

“Please don’t die.” Ned asks Peter, who is still alive next to him.

**  
** **Toomes slides into his wing suit and soars toward Peter. Peter jumps over him and shoots weak webs past Vulture. He asks what that was.****  
**

“Why are your webs broken?” Ned sounds a bit panicked at the prospect of his friend getting hurt on a highway.

“They aren’t, Karen just chose splitter webs.” Peter reassures Ned.

**  
** **“You told me to choose.” Suit Lady copies his panicked voice.** **  
  
**

“How can an AI sound so human? Did you use an actual person to voice act for her?” Sally wonders, directing the last question to Tony, whereas the first was said to herself.

“I didn’t use a voice actor, I made her voice with code. I also coded her, like all my AI’s, to have a personality and act human. I also coded all my AI’s to learn, so that they can shape themselves on how to act around people and the people they are most often around. Although I always make sure their personalities don’t include world-ending wants.” Tony replies. The Avengers side-eye him. “Accidents happen…” He says quietly, voice self-loathing.

“That’s so cool! You are years ahead of most computer scientists!” Ned gushes.

**  
** **Toomes attacks Peter, who ducks and tries to balance himself on the edge of the trailer. He tells her to set everything back to normal. Peter grabs hold of Toomes's duffel bag, and starts to tug.** **  
** **  
** **“Activating all systems.” ** **  
** **  
** **Peter seizes the bag out of Toomes’s suits talons. He falls through the portal back into the truck. **

There are curses and sounds of disappointment at Peters fall.

**The portal cube is thrown off position by Peter’s movement. He immediately jumps up to get out but slams his head on the now solid roof. Peter loses consciousness. Cut to black.** **  
  
**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the next chapter's movie parts is 9 pages long (without edits) so hopefully you'll see it within less than two months.


	10. “Oh, no.”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Oh, we are all going to die here.” Abe sounds depressed as he gazes around the elevator with terror.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> f u ck  
has it really been nearly a whole ass month? my only excuse is that my mental health went "THIS BITCH EMPTY" and yeeted itself out of my head and y eah.... anyway ,,,,, this is around 20 pages so... i hope thats enough? i dont like it but i tried.

**Peter lies motionless on the floor of the trailer. **

“Oh my god, are you dead?” Abe asks.

Peter scrunches up his face in confusion as he turns to his teammate. “I am right here.” 

Abe is silent as he looks at Peter, seemingly unable to form a sentence to defend himself.

“I am surrounded by idiots.” MJ declares.

**The truck rumbled to a stop, waking Peter up. He groans at the pain in his head, the suit's eyes wincing to show what must be a grimace under the mask. “You appear to have a mild concussion.” Suit Lady informs Peter.** **   
  
**

“Oof.”

**   
** **Peter rises to his feet with a hand to his head. He looks around and asks the nameless AI where he was.** **   
  
**

“Oh my god, you’re at a secondary location.” Someone gasps. The people who understand the John Mulaney reference laugh.

"Never in my life will I ever go to a secondary location again." Peter says to the audience.

  
**He looks around, confused, as he does not recognise where he is. “I’m not sure. The container walls are hindering my sensors.” Suit Lady responds, voice dipping a bit in uncertainty.** **   
** **   
** **He gasps, slightly scared. He voices his fears, they must have hijacked the truck and sent him to their evil lair. He starts to devise a plan. Fight. ** **   
  
**

The room tenses, unable to not let fear take hold. Toomes had turned a man to ash and not felt sympathy, he fought Peter uncaringly for the teen (even if he didn’t know who the masked superhero is.) 

Natasha frowns slightly, a realisation popping up. “How long were you unconscious?” She asks. Most of the Avengers nod, now following her train of thought.

Peter glances up in thought. “Uh… A few hours, when I got out it was day time, the tournament was over when I arrived at the monument so…” He makes a vague motion with his head and shoulders, non-verbally saying ‘a few hours.’

Natasha nods, “Hm. And you didn’t wake up tied up, it’s common knowledge at this point that you have super strength.”

“Wait, so you aren’t in their secret evil lair?” A student sounds dismayed. The people around them look at the teen with troubled expressions. Steve and Steve scrunch their face, not liking the upset and disappointed tone the kid has.

Peter shakes his head, “No.” His voice is mostly monotone.

“Spoiler alert.” Another student mumbles. Ned and MJ look at the two students, faces disgusted and perturbed.

“Isn’t it a good thing he’s not in their hideout?” Clint’s voice was high, the archer bothered that a few of Peter’s classmates were disappointed that he wasn’t in a dangerous location - not that his currently unknown location wasn’t potentially dangerous. 

**   
** **Peter arranges himself in a fighting position, readying to burst through the container's doors. He counts down from three, and at one Peter barges through the doors, the doors flying off their hinges.** **   
  
**

People shouted in shock, impressed that he just ran straight through the doors seemingly without resistance.

**   
** **He finds himself in a vast warehouse full of containers. He scans around, on guard.** **   
  
**

“Where are you?” Ned’s voice drips with wonder. Peter doesn’t answer, remembering that he, only seconds after this, asks the same question.

**   
** **Where was he? He voices this question to the voice in his suit. “You’re in the most secure facility on the Eastern Seaboard. The Damage Control Deep Storage Vault.” Suit Lady promptly answers.** **   
  
**

Jaws drop, some know that location to be the one that cleans up after the Avengers. They occasionally make the news with their quick and thorough cleanups after big disasters like the New York Invasion, Sokovia, and Johannesburg. 

“How the-” Ms. Warren cuts herself off, rubbing her eyes with her hand, she sighs. “You need to stop getting yourself in these situations.” She looks at Peter sternly. Peter gulps slightly and nods.

**   
** **Peter puts both his hands to rest on his head, visibly shocked. He tries to deny it but alas, before him, ‘DODC-V05’ is written in large black letters on the wall.** **   
  
**

**Time passes shortly. Peter is sticking to the horizontal crack in the middle of the two massive doors, with both hands he tries to pry the doors open unsuccessfully.**

“If I had known you would get in this mess, I would have made a fingerprint scanner.” Tony jokes.

**   
** **Suit Lady interrupts his attempts at getting free, he informs him that the doors are likely to remain closed until morning. ** **   
  
**

“Don’t tell me you waited hours…” Mr. Rogers looks resigned as he asks this, looking somewhat like that Ben Affleck smoking meme.

“Mayhaps… Not really.” Peter corrects himself. He doesn’t bother to add that he spent a few hours trying to crack the code on the panel.

**   
** **Peter kicks with one foot at the bottom of the door. Peter whines in disappointment. ** **   
** **   
** **Later. **

“Later.” Many freak out again as the teen sounds like the time card guy.

**Peter is lying on a web-made hammock connected to two containers.**

“I need one of those.” Ned declares, watching his friend on the big screen sway in a hammock of webs.

“Yeah, but it’ll stick to you.” Peter argues, tilting his head towards his friend.

“What if you make a web combination that won’t stick?” Ned tries, then frowns. “Then how will it stick to the wall…?”

“Duct tape.” Someone jokes.

Ned snaps his fingers. “One-sided webs! Wait-...”

“I’m pretty sure one-sided webs is just duct tape.” Peter puffs through his nose with a smile. 

“Then let's make a duct tape hammock.” Ned offers. Peter looks sold, if his considering face and then small nod is anything to go by. 

**   
** **He tells the voice that he feels bad about calling her 'suit lady,' he thinks that maybe he should give her a name. Perhaps Liz?**

Sam wheezes. So does pretty much everyone else. “You are so gone for her.”

“Shut up!” Peter’s voice cracks loudly.

“Homecoming was months ago, I doubt he still has feelings for her.” MJ tells everyone. 

Peter feels appreciation for her pool in him. He throws his hands out in her direction, agreeing obviously. He then cringes and turns to Liz, “Sorry.” His voice is awkward. He hopes he didn’t look rude or offend her.

Liz smiles charmingly at him, “It’s okay, the homecoming thing…” She tightens her lips and looks down. She shrugs, “I don’t… Yeah. So.” She shrugs again.

“Yeah.” Peter nods in agreement.

“What are you guys saying? Is this some sort of gen-z language that I’m too old to understand?” Steve wonders, then is promptly baffled by the loud laughter that bursts out of every teen in the room. 

“Weh-He! Peasant! I-!” A student (known for once selling printouts of memes during lunch before getting detention for a month because someone thought he was selling weed) wheezes loudly.

Bruce is very concerned when someone starts crying.

Tony chuckles to himself, Peter once made a presentation to teach him about memes, including both Vines and Tik-Toks, and memes that could be found on Reddit (though Peter ignored the homophobic and transphobic ones) and Tumblr. 

**Peter waves his hand, cringing. That's weird, naming an AI after a crush.**

**Peter swings on a rope with one hand, the robe made out of his webs. He lets go, dropping to the floor and lying down. “What about Karen?”** **   
** **   
** **Karen softly says to the boy that he can call her that if he would like to. ** **   
  
**

“I honestly thought this would be more climactic.” MJ says to Peter, sounding slightly disappointed in herself.

Cindy agrees with a nod, “Same, although, why would naming someone be thrilling?” The two girls hum.

“I can’t believe you named your AI in a Damage Control vault.” Abe informed Peter.

**Peter, hanging upside down, reads a book. Between his feet he is holding the web suspending him from the ceiling. He wonders what else the suit can do. Wings looking like webs expand from under his arms to his hips. Peter gasps in surprise.** **   
  
**

“That’s so cool!” Students gasp. The wings looked extremely thin and appeared to be only webs, though they weren’t and were built to be able to survive flying off a plane.

“I honestly forgot about my web wings.” Peter quietly mumbles, blushing heavily.

Tony is silent for a moment. “... Me too.” Rhodey shakes his head in exasperation.

**   
** **He gasps in awe. ** **   
** **   
** **Standing in front of an empty wall, Peter now has his yellow Midtown high school blazer on over his suit, he is examining the options for his web shooters. “Maybe we should run that refresher course.”** **   
  
**

“Finally.”

**Karen tells Peter the combination he has selected was the 'Ricochet web'** **   
  
**

**Peter repeats Karen and then aims, he fires the web, the bundle of webs bounces back towards him and he ducks. “Whoa! Cool.”** **   
** **   
** **Later. **

“Do it, do it please."

“Do it! Do it, do it!” A crowd of students chant, banging their fists on their chairs. 

“I literally just say ‘later’ it’s not that interesting.” The kid is confused.   
  
“Just do it!”

“Later.” The chanting crowd cheers while the teen who said it sits in his seat, deeply confused and blushing at all the attention they’re getting. He doesn't get why his classmates get so excited but it's more attention than he gets from his parents so he doesn't mind.

“I don’t get it.” Steve looks to Bucky, face contorted in bafflement. Bucky looks at him, not looking as confused as his friend, he doesn’t understand either so he shrugs.

“It’s a reference to some kids show, Sponge-Bob.” Clint tells Steve and Bucky.

“Ohh.” Sam nods. “Makes sense, it’s really popular. And it’s a meme, so kids love it more.” 

“But Clint said it’s a kid’s show, teens don’t watch kids shows.” Steve doesn’t understand. Flash sits by them watching this conversation with awe, he thought the Avengers only talking about memes happened in those ‘incorrect Avengers’ accounts.

“It’s funny.” Sam shrugs, he and his niece watch Sponge-Bob together whenever he babysits her.

**The wall is covered with spiderwebs now. The web combination of the minute is now the splitter web. Peter fires a web, it splits into two strands of web. **

**More time passes and the wall has more webs covering it.** **   
  
**

“How long has it been?” A student asks Peter.

Peter hums quietly as he thinks. “At least twenty minutes.”

“What?!” 

**   
** **Karen calmly informs him that his current combination was the 'Web Grenade.'** **   
  
**

The audience watches curiously, wondering what the web would look like as a ‘web grenade.’

**   
** **Peter leaps off the ground and throws a small ball of web. “Web grenade!” The web explodes, the web expanding from a small ball into a large, over-sized, too-big platter that was the size of a person but in a circle… It was big (author note: im tired, if you’ve seen the movie you know what it looked like.)** **   
  
**

“That was anticlimactic.” Sam sounds slightly disheartened. 

  
“What were you expecting? An actual explosion?” Peter chuckles a bit, as if it was preposterous to think that the web grenade would be an actual grenade. Sam rolls his eyes, a small smile on his face at the teens sass.

“I think it was cool.” Ned chirps, ever the supportive friend.

Peter grins at Ned, “You think everything is cool.” 

“True.” Ned laughs. 

**Peter jump ropes with a strand of web.**

**Peter is lying face up on one of the trailers. He wonders if he should tell Liz he was Spider-Man.** **   
** **   
** **Karen, listening to his ponderings, asks him who Liz was, voice calm and motherly. ** **   
  
**

"Oh my god, I didn't know she could sound not-robotic." Betty said quietly, voice awe-filled and excited.

**Peter repeats her question. "She’s.. heh. She’s the best. She’s awesome. She, uh, she’s just a girl who goes to my school. And, uh... Yeah, I just... I really want to tell her, but it’s kind of weird, you know? 'Hey, I’m... I’m Spider-Man.'"** **   
  
**

"This is awkward." Charles announces after a moment of silence from the crowd. The teens in the room giggle suddenly, the tense atmosphere broken - just barely - at Charles' words.

"I have a dog." A student tries to lighten the slightly awkward air with this announcement. His dogs name is Harry, he is a strawberry nosed, brown furred with white markings pitbull mix with lots or wrinkles despite being around 5 years old. He has a great smile and wouldn't and has never hurt a fly, well, he has chased flies, but has never intentionally hurt someone, Harry does play rough when the teen plays rough, but that was his fault for being too rough when playing with the puppy. Harry is very fat, almost 100lbs, around the weight of his owner, despite being small. Sometimes he falls asleep with his legs outward, making him look like a chocolate frog, he certainly acts like it sometimes.

**   
** **Karen's voice sounds slightly confused when she softly asks what was wrong with being Peter Parker.** **   
  
**

**"What if she’s expecting someone like Tony Stark?" **

Tony tilts his head, face contorted with an awkward smile on his face. 

Peter coughs.

**Peter can only imagine how upset and underwhelming she would be if she saw him as SSpider-Man** **   
  
**

" _ Boy if you don't- _ !" Sam turns around, face aangry. This teen was the most wholesome person he has ever had the pleasure of meeting.

"Peter, anyone would be lucky to have you." Tony looks frustrated at the teens lack of self confidence. 

"You took the words out of my mouth." Sam glances at Tony as he says this.

Peter squawks, " _ I'm a mess _ !"

"So am I, and now I'm marrying  _ Pepper Potts _ !" Tony yells.

"Yeah, but you're Tony Stark, I'm just Penis Parker." Flash shoves his head in his hands and feels his abdomen try to form a black hole.

"No, you're the kid who helps old ladies walk across the street, the teenager who stops bank robberies, does flips on top of a building because he can, always gets A's in all his classes, and stops alien weapon dealers because he can." Tony rants, pointing his finger at Peter like he's a child who did something bad, which Peter thinks Tony believes his self deprecating words were bad.

Peter can't think of anything to say so he looks down at his shoes.

**   
** **Karen compliments him, voice still soft. If she were Liz, she wouldn't at all be disappointed.** **   
** **   
** **Peter waves his hand, waving off the compliment. Having someone to talk to was really great. He asks her how long they had been in the vault for. **

**"Thirty seven minutes." She informs, tone no longer soft, but robotic.** **   
  
**

"What?! Only thirty-seven minutes?!" **   
  
**

**Only thirty-seven? That was insane, how have hours only been minutes? Peter sits up, having to move in his frustration. The new information seemed to awaken something in him, like a large spider trapped in a small glass. He had to get out of the warehouse, he couldn't take it anymore.** **   
  
**

"Like a spider in a cup." Ned joked, miming trapping a spider in a glass.

"Shut up."

  
**Peter jumps off a container and walks back towards it, kicking his feet. He sighs and takes off his jacket. He had to have something in the bag that he could use. He opens Toomes' duffel bag. Peter starts shuffling through the bag, taking out random things. **

**He grabs a wheel-shaped piece of metal, inspecting it before throwing it behind him. ** **   
** **   
** **He pulls out one of Ultrons heads. **

The Avengers wince, some curling their back down slightly (Read: Tony, Bruce, and Wanda.) Tony felt especially guilty, they were meant to be protectors, not a real-life Terminator.

**Peter found it awesome to have a robot head despite having a digitized mask. The Ultron head makes a clunking sound as it is tossed on the floor. Peter holds up a purple energy core. He voices the similarity to his own glowy thingy** **   
** **   
** **"That…" Karen pauses for a half second. "'glowy thing' is an explosive Chitauri energy core."** **   
  
**

There are gasps in the crowd. Everyone in the New England region knows what the Chitauri are, especially the states surrounding New York; they invaded so close to home, and what with the news during and after, everyone knew what they were there for.

"Peter, what the fuck?!" Neds voice is practically a squeak as he flinches in shock.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know! I thought it was just like a glowing battery, like you said it was." Peter rushes to apologise.

"I didn't know it wasn't!"

"Neither did I until that warehouse fiasco!"

"Well duh, how could you! But still!"

**   
** **Peter stands up in shock, voice high in surprise as he whoa's. He's been carrying around a bomb? ** **   
** **   
** **Karen's voice is robotic as she explains to him that the core would require radiation to turn the gem-shaped core into an explosive state.**

"Aren't some of the materials in the Washington Monument slightly radioactive?" Cindy mentions. The team freaks out quietly.

"Is that what happened? Did the radiation cause the Chitauri glowy thing to explode?" Abe adds in, voice off a bit from his internal panicking.

"We almost died." Flash squeaks, hands messing up his hair. The whole Decathlon team feels overwhelmed, as they always do when they think about the fiasco on the monument.

**Peter shoves through his bag, looking for his phone. He finds it and tries to call Ned but can’t get any reception in the vault. He panics. He shoots a web towards the warehouse doors. He slings himself and lands on the doors, he clings onto the doors. He bangs his fists on the door, shouting pleas for help in hopes someone would hear him.** **   
  
**

Tony cringes, the teens pleads hurting his ears. “I’ll get you a Stark Phone, you’ll get connection on the moon so this won’t happen again.” 

“Uh- Thanks!” Peter smiles.

  
**Peter dangles upside down from the ceiling, hanging next to the lock right next to the doors. The lock panel was open and Peter starts punching in numbers, his hands holding a notepad and a pen. He orders Karen to run the numbers.** **   
  
**

There are nods scattered around the crowd, impressed by him. “Smart.” Bucky compliments him briefly.

Ned swings his head to his friend, jaw dropped. “Dude the Winter Soldier just said you were smart.

**   
** **Trial unsuccessful.** **   
** **   
** **Peter is not deterred, that just meant he was gonna try every possible combination till he got the right one, only 10 numbers and over 100,000 possible combinations.** **   
  
**

“I like your persistence.” Steve nods to the teen.

“Well, I was locked in a vault.” Peter chuckles with a small smile, hunching his shoulders in a shrug.

**Peter crosses out the used sequence on his notepad.** **   
  
**

“God, how long did you do that for?” Mr. Harrington wonders quietly. 

Peter hums, “I don’t know, I did around two hundred trials so… An hour or two? More?” Peter shrugs as he thinks.

“An hour?!” Wanda sounds shocked. Many students and some teachers copy her words, others just silent though their expressions don’t vary from their peers.

“That both makes me want to change the codes and make them easier for you.” Tony snorts.

“Well, you said you’d get me a Stark phone so I wouldn’t have to do that again.” Peter replies.

**   
** **The sun is rising, beams shining through the windows over Washington D.C. Ned waits in his hotel room, startling when a knock his heard on the door. Liz calls through the door, they were going to be late if they didn't leave soon. ** **   
** **   
** **Ned tries to not sound panicked as he tells her to hold on, he rushes and snatches the energy core.** **   
  
**

Peter winces, wishing Ned had left the core in the hotel room.

Ned glances at Peter out of the side of his eye nervously.

**   
** **The screen skips back to Peter, who is still trying to override the lock. He yawns, then goes back to pressing buttons.** **   
  
**

**Karen announces to the teen that they were starting the 247th trial. The enormous warehouse doors groan as they open.** **   
  
**

“Holy shit!” 

“247?” Nick mentions to himself, impressed by the teens dedication.   
  


**Peter cheers, relieved to be able to leave the bright, large room.** **   
  
**

The room erupts in cheers. Ned grins and pats Peter’s shoulders. Peter awkwardly grins, not knowing how to deal with the praise.

**   
** **Peter swings out with a web through the opening doors. He latches onto the ceiling outside and crawls. A truck passes and he drops onto the trailer of the departing truck, he lies on his stomach as the truck passes an armed guard.** **   
  
**

“Spy-der.” Sally says with a lilt in her voice as she makes the pun. Peter wheezes, hunching over as if he were punched in the stomach.

**   
** **The students walk into the Decathlon venue. A moderator's voice is heard, all cell phones were to be turned off. ** **   
** **   
** **Ned hands his phone to a security man, the man thanking him.** **   
  
**

“Is this foreshadowing?” The teen shifts their arm in a similar position to ‘is this a pigeon?’ meme.

**   
** **Peter is seen standing on the back of a trailer truck. A ringing tone is heard. His tone is panicked as he asks Karen to get him a quickest route to Decathlon .** **   
** **   
** **Karen complies, tone light and a large contrast to the situation, all she needed was the address. ** **   
** **   
** **Peter informs her quickly, it was just across the street from the washing Monuments. Peter holds his phone to his ear. Ned’s automated voice message plays through the phone. Peter’s voice sounds more panicked as he informs his best friend that the glowy thing was a bomb.** **   
  
**

“I really had a bomb in my backpack, huh.” Ned says, voice deadpan. He rubs his hand over his mouth, looking down.

“We were doing our papers and a bomb was in your pocket.” Sally sounded dead inside. The entire Decathlon team looked as if they met God and didn’t like what they saw and thus lost their will to live because of it.

  
**At the Decathlon building, the students are writing furiously on the papers in front of them. The camera pans down to show the energy core glowing a violet hue in Ned’s pocket. **

“How did no one notice that?” Cindy sounded confused. 

“You guys are supposed to be smart.” A teen insults. The Decathlon team looks at the teen with a disgusted expression.

“We aren’t the bomb squad, mom.” Abe retorts. A few people snicker.

“I think they were more focused on their papers than Ned’s ass, noah fence.” Charles’ laughs.

**There was a vehicle nearing Peterson right. Peter grunts, and crawls on top of the cargo.** **   
** **   
** **“We have now entered sudden death.” A moderators voice is heard dramatically. The students prepare themselves, trying to be calm. Flash takes a deep breath, clearly nervous, what with all the sweat on his face and terrified expression.** **   
  
**

"God, that was so terrifying" Flash comments. No matter how many tournaments or championships he goes to, it will never not be nerve wracking.

"It really was! I will never get used to it." Sally replies.

**   
** **Peter leaps on an SUV.** **   
  
**

“We were at out Decathlon tournament while Peter was doing parkour on trucks.”

“You need to get your priorities in check.” Clint told Peter. Ned looks at Clint, appalled.

“I didn’t know trying to stop my friends from blowing up was not supposed to be one of my priorities.” Peter counters, frowning.

**   
** **The moderator announces that the answer to the final question will win the championship.** **   
** **   
** **MJ dabs the answer bell with a bored, impassive look.** **   
** **   
** **“Midtown Tech?” The moderator asks.** **   
** **   
** **The answer was 0. MJ's voice sounds**

** nonchalant, as if she wasn’t impressed.** **   
** **   
** **The moderator is quiet before booming to the whole large room that Midtown Tech wins the championship. Ned runs up to MJ and hugs her, she smiles. It becomes a group hug as more Midtown students pile in.** **   
  
**

The decathlon students cheer as they watch their own victory. The memory of their joy when they win coming back.

**   
** **The Midtown Decathlon students are shown to be walking toward the Washington Monument. Flash yells in victory, "We won!"**

"Ooh it's comin'" Abe says with an accent. A few of his teammates frown at him, but others laugh.

"Here it comes." Charles joins in, sounding excited but he says it in a way that shows his excite is false.

**Liz sounds joyful as she expresses her pride in her team. Flash is quick to butt in with his opinion that they didn't need Peter after all.** **   
** **   
  
**

Ned looks at Flash with an expression, one side of his lips quirked in annoyance. "Flash-" Ned is cut off by himself.

**   
** **Ned is quick to defend his friend, "Flash, you didn’t answer a single question."** **   
  
**

"Thanks, Ned." Ned says. "No problem, Ned." Peter looks at his friend with a confused yet humoured look, he laughs for a moment. Ned snorts.

**   
** **MJ is standing by herself, holding a book. Mr. Harrington walks up to her, he asks the quiet girl if she was taking it all in.** **   
** **   
** **MJ looks up at him, eyes squinted as the sun assaults her eyes. She denies his question, she didn't really want to celebrate a tower built by slaves. ** **   
  
**

Quite a few students nod in solidarity of being educated. 

"What? No, it wasn't built by slaves." A willfully ignorant student sneers.

"Yeah, it was built by white people." Steve added in, offended for some reason. Tony and Rhodey swung their heads to Steve with shocked disbelief.

"I believe it was. It is up for debate, though." MJ says calmly, not surprised that Captain America didn't know the Washington Monument was built by slaves. "The Smithsonian also believes so. The payroll indicates that slaves were hired from their… Masters." She says the word with uncomfort. "Not to mention slaves also worked to mine stone and other ores that make up the monument." She shrugged. 

MJ decided to end the conversation with, "Read stuff from the Smithsonian or Google it if you want to know more, I'm not a book. People back then didn't care that stuff was built by slaves, only that it looked good." Rhodey nods, he read up on that when he was in college. It was both shocking and not, as slavery was legal back when the monument was built. 

**   
** **Mr. Harrington disagrees, not believing it was built by slaves, he turns to the monument. A park ranger shakes his hand as a confirmation to Michelle’s words. Mr. Harrington purses his lips and walks away. He tells her to enjoy her book.** **   
** **   
** **"Thanks." MJ awkwardly says with a barely noticeable nod.** **   
  
**

"Really channeling your inner Peter there when you said that, MJ." Ned jokes.

MJ snorts, "Yeah, well, I'm not a loser like Peter." 

"I'm not a loser, I can stand on a ceiling." Peter counters.

"Do it, coward. Bet you won't." MJ challenges, a smile on her face. Peter twists his face up in false anger, he was holding back a smile but the twitch on his lips revealing it. He takes off his shoes and socks and jumped, extending his arm, he shot a web and pulled himself to the ceiling. Peter holds onto the tiles with his fingers and toes, before letting go of his grip on his arms and standing on the ceiling.

"You're still a loser!" MJ yells.

**   
** **Peter swings on a bus. Peter and Ned finally connect to each other on the phone. Peter sounds very relieved, he's alive!** **   
** **   
** **Ned is in the Washington Monument, about to go through a security check. Ned whispers, is he okay? ** **   
** **   
** ** Peter is quick to interrogate him, where was the glowy thing?** **   
** **   
** **Ned tries to reassure him that it was 'safe' in his backpack, he puts his backpack down on the conveyor belt moving to an X-ray security scan.** **   
  
**

Ned winces as he watches the backpack move on top of the conveyor belt, he wishes he had listened to Peter, maybe they all wouldn’t have almost died on the elevator.

**Peter panics, “No, Ned, listen! No, no, Ned, the glowy thing is dangerous.”** **   
** **   
** **Ned ignores his friends panicking, Peter missed the Decathlon, but he covered for him, Ned tells him this.** **   
  
**

“Why did you just completely and utterly ignore the fact that the glowy thing in your backpack is dangerous?” Rhodey sounds astonished and confused.

“I don’t know?” Neds voice is raised an octave, face squishing up in a wince and shoulders raised to his ears.

**   
** **Peter is yelling now, Ned needs to listen to him.** **   
  
**

“Yes, Ned, listen to your superhero friend.” Mr. Harrington pleads. Ned makes a face of shock and other students look at him with suppressed laughter.

**   
** **Ned continues to ignore Peter, for some reason. They were all at the Washington Monument now. Liz suddenly snatches the phone from Ned.** **   
** **   
** **Liz’s voice can be heard from Peter’s phone, is this Peter? ** **   
** **   
** **Peter perks up. His voice is straining to keep calm as he greets his crush.** **   
  
**

Tony laughs. “You are such a puppy.” Tony teases, shaking his head. Peter furrows his brow at the man in confusion, head tilted.

“Did you see how he perked up? Like,” Rhodey dramatically copies Peter’s motion, laughing with Tony after he did so. 

“I’m not a puppy.” Peter crosses his arms, eyes widening a fraction like a puppy’s. 

“Stop looking like that, then I’ll believe you.” Tony has a fond tone in his voice as he teases the teen. 

“Like what?” Peter tilts his head. Tony and Rhodey snort. 

**   
** **Karen speaks up, “Is that Liz?”**

**Peter jumps off the bus, tumbles on his back, and starts running. Can Liz please give the phone back to Ned? ** **   
** **   
** **Karen informs Peter that she believes he should tell Liz how he feels.** **   
  
**

“Someone start playing ‘Under Pressure.’” Charles yells, as he does not have his phone. 

The people also without their phone start shouting,“Yes!” “Please!” “Someone start playing the song!” “I don’t have my phone…” “Betty! You have your phone!” Betty fumbles to take out her phone.

**   
** **Peter tries to put a word in but Liz starts scolding him, he was so lucky they won! **

‘Under Pressure’ by Queen starts playing. 

**Liz wanted to be mad at him but she was honestly more worried, what was going on with him? ** **   
** **   
** **Now at the Lincoln Memorial, Peter is sprinting towards the Washington Monument, he tries to sound calm as he talks on the phone but is failing horrendously as he pleads with her that he needs to tell Ned something really important. ** **   
  
**

The music suddenly cuts. Sounds of confusion and frustration rise from the crowd, Betty starts panicking as her phone is gone.

“Where’s the music?” Sally looks at Betty in confusion.

“I don’t know.” Betty sounds frantic as she shuffles around the area, she wishes she was just on her bed, because then she could wave the blankets.

**   
** **Mr. Security-Man politely talks to Liz, all items had to be on the belt.** **   
** **   
** **Peter’s voice is back, he tries to tell Liz that a dangerous object was in Ned's backpack and that it really should not go through an X-ray. Without hanging up, Liz puts Ned’s phone through the X-ray machine along with Ned’s backpack. **

“Why is everyone ignoring you? You sound one X-ray machine from a breakdown.” Sam’s arms are still crossed and he has a frown on his face.

“I was.” Peter’s voice sounds like he is dead inside.

“I think from now on, if Peter is panicking… We should just listen to him.” Abe sounds sheepish, but he gets nods and vocal agreements from his teammates. Peter panics in his seat at the sudden responsibility on him instead of Spider-Man.

  
“No, one time he started panicking and it was because a fly was flying near us.” Ned disagrees, and while he is embarrassed Peter is also thankful for him.

“What?” Flash has never been so confused in his life.

**Ned walks through the scanner, seemingly oblivious to the danger in his backpack, and moves to collect his backpack. The X-ray scanner screen buzzes.** **   
  
**

**Peter keeps running, the Washington Monument coming into view as he gets closer.** **   
** **   
** **Ned slings his bag over his shoulder as he and the other students enter an elevator. Flash turns to his coach, he asks him if he himself could be the one to tell Peter he was expelled. ** **   
  
**

“And five minutes later he’s going to save my life…” Flash sounds emotionless as he internally hates himself.

**   
** **Outside the Washington Monument, Peter webs his backpack to a tree.** **   
  
**

**The elevator is steadily climbing up the monument. The core in Ned’s backpack begins to emanate a purple hue bright enough for it to be seen outside the backpack.** **   
  
**

“Ooh”s began rising from the crowd dramatically.

“You’re all a bunch of children-” Mr. Cobwell started, but paused when he remembered they were children, just smarter than your average children. The teens snickered.

**   
** **The tour guide sounded as if that was the last place they wanted to be in, “The Washington Monument is five-hundred-fifty-five feet, five and one-eighth inches tall. Notice how the marble and granite are cut around the stone.”** **   
  
**

“She could have just said it was five-hundred-fifty five feet  **   
  
**

**The energy core implodes then explodes with light, breaking glass, and the tip of the monument cracks because science.** **   
** **   
** **Peter arrives at the base of the monument. He starts panicking again, his hand rising to hold his head. He questions Karen on what was going on up there. ** **   
** **   
** **Karen answers him, the core went through an X-Ray machine and was activated, thus it has caused damage to the elevator way. Peter’s mask provides Peter a view inside the monument, it is shown that several people are gathered inside the elevator.** **   
** **   
** **“Oh, no.”** **   
  
**

“Oh, no.” Ned copies.

“Oh, no.” MJ joins in.

“Oh, no.” Betty also joins in.

"Oh, no, no, no, no, nooo." A student sings

**   
** **MJ shouts, pointing up at the monumen, “My friends are up there!”** **   
** **   
** **Peter drops his voice to sound older as he reassures her that everything was gonna be okay. Oh no the monument was really tall.**

“You still sound twelve.” Tony says, turning to Peter.

Peter looks to Tony in faux offense, his expression twisting into exaggerated offense as he places his hand on his chest. “Rude.” 

“I take it back-” Tony nods.

“Thank you.” Peter smiles at the man, arm dropping.

“You sound eight.”

Peter’s face changes again. “Hey!” 

**Peter runs across the concrete, he leaps onto the side of the monument and crawls up.** **   
  
**

“Peter whenever he runs is just… I am speed.” Charles says. There are snickers and laughs from those who heard it.

**   
** **Ned drops his backpack as the small space is filled with smoke. Charles looks up. Charles sounds scared as he tells everyone to look at the ceiling.** **   
** **   
** **A glowing, red crack cuts across the elevator ceiling. Liz tries to reassure everyone despite being terrified.** **   
** **   
** **Abe sounds depressed as he accepts his death, he gazes around the elevator with terror.** **   
  
**

“Me whenever I take a test.” 

“Everyone during SAT season.”

"Simply a mood."

**MJ uses her hand to block the sun as she watches Peter. He’s climbing up the stone monument, he’s gotten so high he looks like a dot from the ground.** **   
** **   
** **Karen speaks up, she estimated 10 minutes before catastrophic failure.** **   
  
**

“Jesus that sucks.” A student says.

“Well that sucks.” Another student responds with haste.

**   
** **Charles shouts, “We're freakin' screwed.”** **   
** **   
** **The tour guide tries to reassure them, she understood that the explosion was frightening, but the monument's safety systems are working.** **   
** **   
** **Peter is now panting as he climbs.** **   
** **   
** **Karen denies what the tour guide said, “The safety systems are completely failing.”** **   
  
**

“What?!” Abe screams, panicking once more.

“Oh my god we almost died.” Flash holds his head in his hand.

"That is the worst thing I have ever heard, oh my god." Charles puts his head in his hands, eyes wide.

"5 seconds later and we could have died, nice timing, huh?" Ned nudges Peter, face calm but eyes shocked as he and the rest of his teammates relive their near death experience with more information than they had before.

**   
** **The tour guide drones on, they were very safe in the elevator. ** **   
** **   
** **Karen counters her again, “The occupants are in imminent mortal danger.”** **   
** **   
** **Peter sounds terrified when he yells, he was going as fast as he could! Peter yanks himself up with double strands of web.** **   
** **   
** **Park rangers pull the doors to the elevator shaft open, the ceiling hatch opens when the tour guide opens it. **

**Peter continues scaling the monument.** **   
** **   
** **Cindy is hauled out of the elevator. A park ranger is heard, “Let's go. Give me your hand.”** **   
** **   
** **125 seconds remaining until catastrophic failure of the security systems, Karen informs Peter.** **   
** **   
** **His hands slip a little. What? Why were they failing much quicker than earlier estimations?**

**“Unexpected motion has caused the deterioration to escalate.”** **   
  
**

“So you’re telling me our being saved almost killed us?” Liz sounds shocked.

  
**The spider suit shows the elevator. The park rangers rescuing the students are making the elevator move.** **   
** **   
** **How does he get in the elevator?** **   
** **   
** **Karen activated the reconnaissance drone.**

**The spider emblem on Peter’s suit detaches, a small puff of white smoke emitting from the vacant slot, revealing a flying spider-shaped robot, it flies up.**

“Woah! That looks so cool!” Ned’s voice is loud, though not a yell, as he gazes at the screen with awe like a bright neon sign on his face.

“It’s also really cute.” Betty adds in, looking at the screen with her head tilted in curiosity.

“He is! His name is Droney.” Peter says with a big grin on his face, looking at both Ned and Betty.

Betty contemplates this. “Cute.”

**   
** **What? Has that been there the entire time? How could he have not known that his button thing was also a drone? That was so cool.** **   
** **   
** **Karen locates the best entry point available on top of a thin tower. The cute small drone finds a window. She tells Peter to approach a window on the southwest of the tower. ** **   
** **   
** **Peter climbs around the monument, and continues scaling. Down on the ground, people have started to gather to see what’s happening.** **   
** **   
** **Inside the monument, Abe peeks down the long elevator shaft.** **   
** **   
** **Peter reaches the top of the monument, where the stone becomes a pyramid. Pausing, he turns onto his back and clings to the cracked stone. He cautious peers over the edge, the floor was blurry with distance.**

“Oh my god, I’d start crying if I was that high…” A student sounds anxious as they say this, shifting in their seat in discomfort.

“How did you deal with being so high up?” Someone asks Peter. Peter realises he needs to socialise more, he barely knows any of his classmates other than Ned, MJ, and his Decathlon team. And Brad.

“I didn’t.” Peter shrugs.

“Mood.” Many students reply.

  
**He then takes many breaths and sticks to the wall.** **   
** **   
** **Karen sounds confused as she wonders what was wrong, why was he hesitating? He has reached the window.** **   
  
**

“Anxiety is happening, Karen.” The student pauses for a moment, comprehending what they just said. They wheeze as their three friends laugh.

**Peter answers that he has never been so high, he then tries to shoo away the seagulls perched on the windowsill. **

“What are they doing so high up? They are seagulls, not actual birds.” The student pauses.

“Marcus!” One of his friends wheeze.

“Shut up!” The ‘seagull’ student yells, laughing in embarrassment.

“You fucking lizard person!” His other friend yells, laughing so hard she falls off her chair.

“Uh, Marcus, seagulls are birds.” His third friend informs him with a laugh.

“I know!” 

**Karen’s voice is calm and kind as she informs Peter that the parachute has not been replaced, therefore a fall from such a height would most probably be deadly. ** **   
  
**

Tony turns around, his expression reminding Peter of Aunt May’s when he had done something bad. “Why didn’t you come to me with your suit, that of which you had no parachute, which could save you life. Especially when you’re fighting a bad guy that can fly.”

Peter can’t remember why so he just answers with, “I don’t know.”

“Peter, if you had fallen you would be dead. Dead. As in, unalive, no longer breathing, morto.” Tony’s hand is almost a fist, pointer and middle finger pads touching his thumb pad. He looks slightly panicked but is holding it back well.

“I know, but I didn’t. I mean- I fell, but I had my webs.” Peter regrets that when he sees Tony’s face, his head to the side (not tilted) and brow pinched.

“You what?!” 

“I fell down the elevator shaft.”

“Oh yeah, you mean when you almost kissed Liz?” Flash says. Sam looked at the teen with an excited ‘oh?’ face, his eyebrows raised in interest.

“We’ll get to that later. Now, you fell down the elevator shaft?”

“And my webs saved me.” Tony looks comforted by that, sagging a fraction and he sighs. 

“One day, I’ll be only a few years older and grey and it’ll be your fault.” The lights blink for a half second.

**   
** **Peter jumps on top of the windowsill, startling the seagulls and they fly away. Just great, amazing, wonderful, perfect. Peter kicks the small window. How is the window not breaking, he is kicking it pretty hard. Karen informs him that its 4-inch ballistic glass. Makes sense as to why it's not breaking.** **   
  
**

“Why the hell is it ballistic glass?”

“Uh.” Betty is quick to take out her phone, which she now has back. “‘ In nineteen-fifty-eight the observation windows were glazed with shatterproof glass. In nineteen-seventy-four-to-nineteen-seventy-six, they were glazed with bulletproof glass and the shutters removed. New bulletproof glass was installed during nineteen-ninety-seven-to-two-thousand.’ ” She frowns. (Authors note: this part is made up >>>) “After the assasination of Titus Mede II through the window, all windows were made to be ballistic glass.”

“Cool.” 

"What kind of name is Titus Mede?" 

"Sounds Hogwarts-y. Ooh! Do you think he's a wizard?"

"Probably not, as he's dead."

**He would have to have more moments behind his kicks to break the thick glass. ** **   
** **   
** **Peter casts a web against the monument wall and rappels down the strand until his feet are flat against the glass. He jumps a few times and the glass cracks slightly. Police helicopters approach, guns aiming for Peter. **

“Oh shit.” 

“I thought they were here for us?” Charles wonders.

“So you’re telling me police officers tried to shoot Spider-Man? The superhero that saves kittens and does backflips because people ask?” Sam looks disappointed.

**Speakers boom as a police officer shouts the fact that they were the police of D.C. Metro. He orders Peter to identify himself.** **   
  
**

“They don’t know Spider-Man?” Betty sounds very confused.

“Wait, are you telling me our friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man really is just  _ our  _ friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man?” Flash sounds almost offended that Spider-Man isn’t that popular.

**   
** **Peter gestures wildly to the glass. “My friends are in there! My friends are in there! Stop!”** **   
  
**

**The officers voice is stern as he orders him to return to the ground.** **   
  
**

“Chill, he’s just trying to save his friends.” Sally is unimpressed, one of her eyebrows raised as she watches the officer. **   
  
**

**Mr. Harrington directs a question to his students, “Okay, who's next?” Liz latches onto Mr. Harrington’s shoulder, preparing to climb up.** **   
  
**

**Flash shoves Liz away, it was his turn now. He doesn’t give up the trophy. **

“What the hell? What are you still doing with the trophy?” Wanda looks at Flash with one of her eyebrows raised.

“I just wanted to give it to one of my parents if they were there.” Flash shrinks back.

“You valued parental approval over your and your teammates lives?” Natasha’s face was blank other than slight disgust. Flash shrinks back even further, back pressing into his seat as he attempted to sink into it.

**   
** **Ned yells to Flash, what was he doing, favoring fake gold over the lives of his teammates? Flash’s voice was heard trying to urge someone on.** **   
** **   
** **Cindy shouts in panic, why was he worrying about the trophy when who-knows-how-many-lives were at stake. Flash climbs through the hatch and the car shakes. The students scream in fear.**

“You could have gotten them killed.” Clint shuns Flash. Flash tears up but ignores it, he looks down at his lap as guilt eats at his very soul, the tears slowly piling up in his eyes, his vision getting blurry. 

**Through the barely cracked window, Peter is watching the students panic. Peter stands on the window as police helicopters hover around him. An officer is aiming his gun in Peter’s direction, he orders him again to stand down and go back to the ground. Peter is heavily panting, but still he climbs to the top of the monument.** **   
  
**

“What are you doing?” A student asks Peter. 

“Did you get shot?” Another student asks.

“Uh, no. But something cooler - I think - happened.” Peter informs vaguely.

**   
** **The police officer follows Peter with his gun, but Peter quickly retreats from his view to the other side of the monument. The officer shouts to the pilot to hover higher.** **   
** **   
** **Peter's got this.** **   
** **   
** **Flash yells at someone to take his trophy, he gives the trophy to someone who takes it in confusion. Why was this teen with greasy hair giving him a trophy instead of his hand to save himself.** **   
  
**

His legs and feet become vague shapes as the tears wobble. He blinks and two large droplets fall quickly and create two dark wet spots. He holds back a sniffle and looks back up at the screen tentatively.  **   
  
**

**The car shakes once more under Flash’s feet.** **   
** **   
** **An officer shouts that he had one last opportunity to return to the ground.** **   
** **   
** **He has accepted death. Peter leaps. He flies toward the closest helicopter and extends his web-wings, gliding over the helicopter blades in a display that is beautiful on screen. **

The students watch in awe as Peter flies over the helicopter. 

“I’d say this is amazing cinematography but you actually did that.” Flash says.

“You really jumped 

**He shoots a web at the helicopters legs(?), and swings toward the window. Peter pleads with any deity to have the glass break. The window splinters and bursts into pieces as Peter is slung in. The elevator starts to fall as the roof is torn off. **

There are short bursts of screams and shouts of shock and fear as the elevator falls. Their classmates are in there.

“How did no one die?” 

“Because Peter was there.” Ned answers.

**Peter slides toward the elevator shaft. Liz and Ned scream. Peter shoots a strand of web onto the falling box of potential death, he then braces his feet against the doors to the shaft. Liz, Ned and Mr. Harrington are jostled in the elevator as it is stopped.** **   
** **   
** **He did it! Peter cheers. Yeah! The doors break, and Peter falls.**

“Oh no!”

**Following the plummeting elevator. It catches on a beam and Peter falls through the ceiling on his back. The impact breaks off a wheel and the car starts to drop again. Peter shoots a web through the hole in the ceiling, stopping the elevator’s descent. **

There are cheers and yells of relief when Peter saves their classmates.

“You’re so lucky to have been there in time.” Bruce tells Peter.

“I know…” Peter says quietly. He’s thought about it, nearly cried about it. Had he been just a few seconds late, Liz and Ned would have died.

**Hanging upside down with his feet braced against the ceiling of the elevator, Peter tries to make his voice sound different. He clears his throat, he asks them how they're doing, then eliminates their chance to respond by telling them to not worry, as he has got them.**

Tony shakes his head. “Still sounds eight, kid.”

“I am the ripe old age of sixteen, old man.” Peter retorts quickly, tilting his nose up.

“If you’re old, what am I?” Tony wonders, fondness and amusement in his eyes as the two tease one-another.

“Ancient.” Peter watches as Tony looks dramatically insulted, a loud scoff coming from the mechanic.

**   
** **Ned cheers and waves his fist in joy and relief, causing the whole elevator to wobble.** **   
** **   
** **“Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, big guy, quit moving around.”** **   
  
**

There is laughter in the crowd when Peter says that.

**   
** **Ned is quick to apologise, using formal titles like 'sir' and '((nothing but sir)).'** **   
** **   
** **A fire truck and an ambulance arrive outside. “Let's go, let's go!” With his web attached to the ceiling high above, Peter starts to pull the elevator up the shaft. They reach an upper floor.** **   
** **   
** **Cindy orders in a slight panic that Mr. Harrington and Ned go.** **   
** **   
** **Peter informs them that this floor was their stop.** **   
** **   
** **Ned turns to Liz, telling her to 'come on.' The metal elevator ceiling slowly begins to bend under Peter’s feet.** **   
  
**

“Oh god, they’re gonna die.”   
  


“They are literally less than thirty feet away from you.” Two students converse.

  
**Peter speaks quickly, everybody has to move. ** **   
** **   
** **Is he sure this is safe? Liz hesitantly extends her arm, but before she can hold Mr. Harrington’s outstretched hand, the ceiling snaps.** **   
  
**

Screams ring out from the crowd, despite knowing that the girl was in the same room as them and breathing.

**   
** **Mr. Harrington screams his student's name. Oh god another student's gonna die.** **   
** **   
** **Peter shoots a web to Liz as the elevator falls, the web connecting around her wrist. She's okay, she's okay. Peter pulls her up by the web, then grabs her hand. Cool, sweet, chill, everything is fine.** **   
** **   
** **Strands of web start to snap. Mr. Harrington reaches out to help Liz. “Come on up. Come on, you guys, stay back. Come on in. Come on in.” ** **   
** **   
** **Peter fails at trying to sound older as he asks if everyone was okay.** **   
  
**

“Did you really try to sound masculine.”

**   
** **Liz nods shakily. Karen whispers to him that this was his chance to kiss Liz. Liz and Peter stare into each others eyes. **

“Are you guys gonna kiss?” Brad’s looks slightly disgusted. “You didn’t know he was a highschooler.” 

“Just wait.” Flash responds. Brad looks to him in confusion. Abe snickers.

**The web snaps, and Peter drops. **

“Oh.” Brad’s voice is quiet.

“Ah.” Tony nods his head, then looks conflicted. “You didn’t immediately shoot a web…”

“I was embarrassed okay?” Peter replies, looking down in embarrassment as he blushes, remembering how he felt during the whole fiasco at the Washington Monument.

**The students, the teacher, and the park rangers look down the elevator shaft going after Peter as he falls. Everyone watches as the superhero falls down the shaft, their heads following as Peter falls down the door. Mr. Harrington’s voice is awkward as he thanks the teen.**

**   
** **Flash’s head pops into view, peering down the shaft. “Are you really friends with Peter Parker?”** **   
  
**

  
  



	11. Bye, Mr. Criminal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Hey, everyone. Yeah, kick-ass party. Hey, what's up, Liz? Peter's told me a lot about you." The mask winks on the recording.
> 
> "Did it just wink?" Sam laughs.
> 
> Peter tries to wave it away. "No, no, no. No, no, no. This is just me messing around. Go later in the day, later in the day." Karen fast-forwards the video.
> 
> Peter now has a hammer. "It is I, Thor, son of Odin!"
> 
> "Thor would love this." Steve muses.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i feel bad that i havent updated in a month and that chapter 12 is only half way finished, but i promise, i have an excuse.  
im super depressed, almost suicidal, and one of my teachers is... a bad person, lets go with that

**In Toomes’ warehouse, Schultz tries out the shocker gauntlet. A van is knocked back after he discovers he can move an entire van with the force of his punch.**

“Holy shit!” A student is startled. aaaa

“Language!” Steve yells as if on reflex. He inhales sharply and looks at Tony. “Don’t-” Tony starts wheezing, laughing loudly. Steve knocks his head back, sighing in defeat.

** Mason sits at his work table, clutching his work when the table shakes. He tells his boss that he can finish the next order, but due to him lacking any new materials from their recently failed hijacking of the truck, he trails off.** **   
**

"Oh thank god, they don't have a lot of material…" Clint sighed in relief.

"That just means they'll have to get more." Natasha responded.

"Forgot about that, didn't you?" Fury snorted. Clint nodded shortly.

**  
** **Toomes sighs, annoyed. He curses, then asks if they have enough materials for their deal with Gargan.** **  
  
**

"Who's Gargan?" Tony wondered to himself, worrying about whether he'll be a problem for Peter or not.

**  
** **Mason nods, but informs Toomes that they only have enough for the deal. Perching on the table, Vulture rubs his chin.** **  
  
**

“He’s perched on the table…” Ned says, eyeing the screen.

“And?” MJ looks at the teen. “Wait- Ned, no.”  
  


“He’s also the vulture.” Ned finishes. MJ groans in annoyance while Peter laughs.

  
**Mason suggests that perhaps it was time for him to build the high-altitude seal.** **  
  
**

"Why would they need that?" Sally asks Peter.

"To hijack Mr. Starks plane." Peter answered. Sally stared in shock.

**  
** **Toomes spins to him, stressed. He yells at him to stop talking about that project. ** **  
  
**

"I still can't believe he didn't want to steal from the plane." Peter voiced.

**Mason defends himself, it was only one job.** **  
** **  
** **Toomes shuts down Mason's idea while Schultz stands nearby. They had been doing this for 8 years and had never heard anything from the Feds or the Avengers. Then one day a red and blue spider-themed bastard shows up and tries to tear everything down. ** **  
  
**

"I'm starting to get a bad feeling." Ned worries, looking at Peter. This guy seems really dangerous, he can fly, he has alien technology that can turn someone to ash. He can probably take on some of the Avengers one-on-one...

**  
** **Toomes shrugs. "I’m gonna kill him." He decides, next time he sees that bug he's gonna regret putting on tights.** **  
  
**

Liz gasps, flinching. Was her dad really was going to kill her classmate? She thought back to the guy her dad murdered, how he turned him to ash without remorse… She sniffled, shaking.

**  
** **"I found him." Schultz gestured to the TV. On the TV, the news is talking about Spider-Man at the Washington Monument. The headline says “** ** _Man Spider Climbs Washington Monument_ ** **.”** **  
** **  
** **A news anchor speaks, describing Spider-Man's heroic act of saving an Academic Decathlon team from an elevator. ** **  
  
**

"Why are news anchors called 'news anchors'?" A student asks his friend. 

"Why are they called 'news anchors'?" His friend repeats with a slight tilt of their head, their voice sounded thoughtful. 

Their other friend starts to look for their phone to Google it. "Do I have my phone-? Nope, guess the world will never know." A shrug.

**  
** **Toomes' expression is unreadable as he faces the screen.**

Liz feels a glimmer of hope spark in her.

**  
** **It is night, the students’ families meet them by the school bus. Liz’s mother runs to hug Liz, who sighs in relief. Doris reassures her, rubbing her back soothingly, comforting both of them.** **  
  
**

Liz smiles a bit at the memory of the safety and relief she felt when she hugged her mom that night. It was nice and tight, made her feel like she was back in reality after floating between reality and despair.

**  
** **May calls for Peter, then rushes to him and embraces her boy.** **  
  
**

"I was confused and angry when I saw that. No one even knew where you were, and you weren't in the elevator… Well, turns out you were…" Flash mentions, lips pursed just barely as he watched Peter nearly melt into his aunts arms.

**  
** **The student news plays on a TV in the hall. Jason is the first to speak, their own Academic Decathlon team had defeated their competitors and won the national championship. Then later that same day, they dodged death. ** **  
  
**

"You sound like the voice I hear when I read a bad article." MJ informs Jason. The boy turns to her with an offended look on his face, his mouth open exacerbating his look.

**  
** **A camera shows Abe yelling, "Explosion. Sally scream. Flash scream. Everybody screamin’." His arms flail as he yells, body moving with his arms giving him the appearance of being dramatic.** **  
  
**

A student laughs. "I remember hearing you say that and I died laughing." 

Abe laughs with them, "Cool." 

"Yeah." The conversation gets a bit awkward. A student coughs comedically and snorts and laughs-through-the-nose rise from the audience.

**  
** **Charles is visibly excited. "There were purple beams and smog everywhere, It was-" A cat emoji cuts him off, popping up over Charles’ mouth and a beep is bleeped as he swears. It was like a Bon Jovi concert. He crosses his arms with a nod.** **  
**"You look stupid in that yellow jacket." Sally comments, glancing at Charles just a row down. 

"You wear the same jacket as me, Sally." Charles turns to the girl with an expression that shows his offense. 

Sally is quick to retort, "I never said I don't look stupid." She raises her eyebrows as she tilts her head to look at her teammate.

"You all look great, you know what'd be better? Watching the movie" Mr. Harrington fails to sound cheerful. His coworkers nod to him in acknowledgement for his 'defusing of the situation.' 

**  
** **Mr. Harrington looks awkward in the recording. They had made it out alive, that's the most important part. He wouldn't be able to lose another student on a school trip. The camera zooms in on Mr. Harrington’s depressed face.** **  
  
**

Ms. Warren pats Mr. Harrington's shoulder in a silent apology for what had happened. Clint is the only one brave enough to ask. "Hey, uh, what happened?" The students perk up towards Mr. Harrington, whenever they asked he just got a far away look.

If Mr. Harrington could become any state of matter it would be a liquid. It looks as if everything in him just dropped like butter on a plate being held vertically, he looked like that meme of the guy smoking on a balcony Peter has seen on Twitter being used as a reaction image. "A student died. Uh. During the invasion. 2012. An alien shot the bus, everyone but her made it. There was so much blood- around her head." He motioned his hand in a circle around his head. Face still blank but in a depressed way. "It… She wasn't. Just… Too still… She was never still though, always fidgeting…" Mr. Harrington shook slightly. He frowned and looked down, hands twitchy.

Clint was silent, feeling guilty that he had asked. Many students shrunk in on themselves, feeling bad about wanting to know about what happened, some wish they didn't want nor hear about it.

**  
**Jason's voice was heard in the silent room:

**"Thankfully, no one was seriously injured, thanks to the Spider-Man." Jason and Betty both awkwardly thanked Spider-Man. They smiled like they were being held at gunpoint. **

"Is someone holding a gun to you to behind the camera? Is that how this stuff was being filmed?" A student asks. 

"Yeah, obviously." Jason responded. "Our teacher holds all of us hostage and forces Betty and I to talk and have the rest of them to record us."

**Jason was now talking alone, the Spiderz-Man mania was taking over the school, how could the students show their spider-spirit? ** **  
** **  
** **Peter is grinning as he walks past the TV. A few students are seen standing near the TV to watch the student news. Ned joins him when Peter cheerfully enters another hall.** **  
  
**

"Puppy Parker." Peter feels like he was mentally punched when he hears someone whisper the two words.

**  
** **Ned sounds like the vocal embodiment of ten overactive puppies. He wonders to his friend what it was like being famous, while having nobody know Spider-Man was him. ** **  
  
**

Heads turn to Peter in curiosity before turning back to the screen when they remember the answer will be seen and heard on the big screen.

**  
** **"Crazy, dude." Peter sounds like he's in awe at the fact.** **  
  
**

"I'll bet." Sam snorts.

"You're in highschool and you saved your teammates, but no one know- knew it was you. Must've been weird to see everyone talking about you and your heroics as if you're just your suit." Wanda glances to Peter, who nods in agreement.

"They were talking about me if I was some low-key version of one of you guys! It was insane because at the same time they just walked by me." Peted tells Wanda, rolling his eyes with a smile at the last sentence. Wanda smiled back with a small chuckle.

**  
** **Ned looks at Peter, asking him if they should tell everyone.** **  
  
**

"No." Tony and Wanda say, giving each other odd and strange looks. Clint snorts.

**  
** **Peter shakes his head. Ned offers to tell everyone. ** **  
** **  
** **"No, no, that’s not a great idea."** **  
  
**

"Why not? Why do - or did you keep you identity a secret?" Betty asks.

Peter stutters for a moment trying to think of a way to explain his reasoning. "Okay, so- well.. Uh. Yeah, okay, uh, imagine you have a very dangerous enemy willing to do anything and everything they can to end you. Since I'm a minor, I live with an adult, my aunt," He gestures to May who is watching curiously. "May doesn't have powers, or she doesn't have super strength." He corrects himself, May has dealt with him for almost his whole life, she has to have some form of superpowers. "If someone, say, a man in a bird suit, came and attacked her, he couldn't really defend herself because his wings are strong and sharp." He waves his hand at the looks of concern he gets.

"I don't want to be the reason people I care about get hurt all because I wanted attention and fame for wearing a red and blue suit." Betty nods in understanding.

**  
** **Ned settles down, then tells Peted they were gonna be late for class. ** **  
** **  
** **Peter stops him. He wasn't going to class.** **  
  
**

"Uh, what?" Rhodey turns to Peter who blushes in embarrassment.

**  
** **Ned tries to stop him, he was already in enough trouble for missing the Decathlon championship.** **  
** **  
** **Peter explains, voice excited at finally figuring it out. The man who wore the bird suit was stealing from Damage Control, the materials he steals is how he builds all his weapons. So, all he had to do is catch him.** **  
  
**

"You shouldn't prioritize Spider-Man over your education." Tony lectures.

Peter is quick to explain himself, "I feel like I'm not even learning anything, though. And it's not that I'm not paying attention, it's that I already know and understand it all." 

His teachers nod, they did notice that it all seemed easy for the teen and that he was bored. He could fall asleep in class and make up all the work after school in twenty minutes without needing the teacher to explain it, even if they started a new unit. He wasn't learning anything because he already knew it all.

Tony gets a new idea. "So," He to the teacher's. "He knows everything you guys are teaching?" They nod. "Why don't we test that big brain of yours for ourselves when we get out of here." He offers to Peter.

"What do you mean?" The teen asks.

"The kids are our future, and you're a kid. So, pass the test and we can make that internship official."

"You-you're offering me a real internship?" Peter sounds flabbergasted. The man nods. "Why?"

"Like I said, the kids are our future. I want, and hope, SI will be around for a while and the only way to accomplish that is to make new things. Not to mention the state of our planet as of right now… You could help us." 

"Only if I pass the test." Peter affirms.

"Kid, I have no doubt you will." Tony compliments. He took samples of Peter's original web fluid, the formula was complex and was hard for him to duplicate so the teenager could use it for his suit in Germany. He even gave the kid the formula he used, since he modified it a bit to be a bit stronger. Peter beams at him, smile bright enough to light up the dark theater room.

**  
** **But they had a quiz in Spanish, Ned informs him.** **  
** **  
** **Peter believes that after his mission, he probably wasn't going to come back to Queens. He explains that Tony was moving the Avengers upstate. He goes to continue but is cut off by Ned. ** **  
  
**

"Peter!" May yells, shocked and angry. Then she turned to Tony, who was quick to defend himself,

"I would never take him out of school early." He glances at Peter with his arms raised. "I don't know why he thought I would. Education is important, kid."

**  
** **He wants to be a high school dropout? Ned is appalled.** **  
** **  
** **Peter turns around in a graceful swirl, he was so far above high school. ** **  
** **  
** **Principal Morita interrupts him, his hands on his hips, ordering him to his office.** **  
  
**

There was a sudden burst of laughter.

**  
** **At detention, a video plays on the box tv, showing Captain America, he pulls up a chair and sits.** **  
  
**

"What?! What is this?!" Clint wheezes.

**  
** **"So... You got detention. You screwed up."** **  
  
**

"So-!" Sam laughs. "You got detention." He mocks Steve poorly, only due to the fact that he can't stop laughing. Steve has his face covered by his hands.

**  
** **Peter sighs, biting his lip in frustration as he stares at the screen with a bored look, eyes holding resentment that only a teenager could possess.** **  
  
**

"Is that why you came with me to Germany? You're angsty teenage spider butt just needed to punch Cap?" Tony asks with a snort, turning in his chair to look at Peter with an amused smirk.

"Yeah." Nearly all the teenagers who've had to watch the videos multiple times say in unison.

"If I have to watch Captain America talk about old turkeys and being a cool kid, or illegal fireworks, and eating a hot lunch, I'm going to punch him." A teen says. There are nods of agreement. Steve looks terrified.

"So, your body's changing. Believe me, I know how that feels." A dozen students say.

"What have I done." Steve whispers.

**  
** **Steve continues speaking on the TV, unaware of his resentful audience in the theater, "You know what you did was wrong. The question is, how are you gonna make things right? Maybe you were trying to be cool. But take it from a guy who's been frozen for 65 years, the only way to really be cool is to follow the rules."** **  
  
**

Multiple students mock him by repeating what he's saying. Sam and Clint continue laughing, Natasha side eyes Steve with a scheming grin. Bucky nudges Natasha, the man also has a sly smile, though it's smaller, he glances at Steve and then back to her with a smirk. Natasha grins back and the two start planning.

**  
** **The classroom is barely filled with students. MJ is sitting in a seat behind Peter, who sighs again and stands up forcefully. **

**"We all know what's right. We all know what's wrong. Next time those turkeys try to convince you of something you know is wrong…"** **  
  
**

"Every time he enters a room a PSA plays?" Natasha offers. Bucky nods. 

"And in the gym the fitness test plays." He snorts.

**  
** **Peter marches out the classroom past MJ. Coach Wilson is hunched at a desk, bored out of his mind. His voice is indifferent as he watches the teen leave, asking him where he was going** **  
  
**

Principal Morita looks at Coach Wilson, who looks nervous.

**"Just think to yourself, what would Captain America do?"** **  
  
**

"Punch them in the back of an alley." Bucky answers.

"Wait, really?" A student asks.

Bucky nods, "He came home with bruises a lot because he fought everyone." 

**  
** **Coach Wilson looks back to MJ. Why is she here if she doesn't have detention? ** **  
** **  
** **She likes to draw people in crisis, and detention is the perfect place for that. MJ holds up a sketch that looks like Coach Wilson. ** **  
** **  
** **"So your body's changing. Believe me, I know how that feels." Coach Wilson reaches over to turn it off.** **  
  
**

"So your body's changing-!" Clint keels over with laughter, the audience watching this with amusement.

**  
** **Peter lifts a row of lockers off the ground, revealing a space beneath. **

"How the-" Principal Morita says in awe. "How did none of us notice?" He was astounded, being outsmarted by a teenager, a super-powered vigilante who got bit by a radioactive spider.

**Peter picks up a jar of web fluid and gently lowers the lockers. He tosses the bottle in the air, and catches it.** **  
** **  
** **Peter, once he arrives home, peeks through the opened front door. His voice is tentative as he glances around for May.** **  
  
**

The viewers watch in confusion, wondering what he was going to do if his aunt wasn't home. "Hang on- what is this movie rated?" A student jokes, the other students laugh while the adults and Steve are horrified. 

Tony covers his eyes. "Puppies and kittens, Tones." Rhodey snorts, patting his back.

Steve looks back at a red-faced Peter.

Recovered, Tony sits up, "I'll never let you live down the time I gave you some money and you watched an adu-"

"No!" Peter screeches, standing and pointing at a smirking Tony, his face somehow more red. Ned is howling with laughter, face becoming red as he bends over and has to sit on the floor to laugh easier.

"Oh?" Sam wants to hear the rest of the story, but Peter lunges, landing in front of Tony only to cover the mechanics mouth.

"I will give you my first born - or first pet - if you don't say that, please, I am begging you." Peter pleads, puppy eyes full-force staring into Tony's amused ones. The man raises his arms in surrender, cackling as Peter goes back to his seat, still blushing furiously in embarrassment.

"That was inappropriate." Steve says.

Bucky looks to Steve, face unimpressed. "I've walked in on you in the living room-"

"Bucky!" 

**Peter checks the living room, which is empty.** **  
  
**

Clint sniggers with Sam and Tony.

**  
** **Peter is in his bedroom, wearing normal clothes over his suit and lounging in his chair. He greets Karen.** **  
  
**

"After all that talk, I was expecting something else to be honest." A student says.

"I'm glad, to be honest…" Another student replies.

"Not everyone's asexual." Their friend replies.

"You'd be comfortable watching that?" They sound disgusted.

"I mean- Eh?" Their friend shrugs.

"Mr. Cobwell is literally right there." They wave to their teacher. Their friend now looks horrified. Peter is also horrified, having heard this conversation and has been reminded that, while he knew his friends and classmates were around there, but his _ teachers _ are in the room as well.

"Ned, am I allowed to commit toaster bath?" 

**  
** **Karen chirps back a greeting, asking him how his Spanish quiz was.** **  
  
**

"Yeah, Peter, how was your Spanish quiz?" Ned turns to his friend, eyebrows raised a fraction.

"The view was amazing, although the experience was terrifying." Peter replies, referring to the fact that he was on a ferry, but also that the ferry was cut in half and almost sank.

"Why? Oh." 

**  
** **Peter ignores the question, wondering if she could help him. He was trying to figure out who the dealers under the bridge were, but he could only barely remember their license plates. Karen is quick to inform him of her ability to run a facial recognition of her footage from that deal.** **  
  
**

Betty still can't believe that there is so much an AI could do in a suit that looks skin tight. "How does so much tech fit in a skintight suit? Even my phone needs to be…" She quickly Googles how thick it is. "7 millimeters. And that suit is basically spandex!"

Tony answers immediately, "Stark tech." 

**A string of data suddenly appears on the HUD. She had footage? He quickly learns that she records everything. ** **  
  
**

"Really?" Wanda sounds disgusted when she asks Tony.

"It's not like I'm recording him in his apartment all the time, I'm only recording what he sees when he's in the suit." Tony responds. 

"I put my suit in my closet, the worst thing she can see is a beetle or something if she records all the time." 

**  
** **Peter sounds slightly mortified when he asks if she records ** ** _everything_ ** **. Karen confirms this.** **  
** **  
** **Does she record all the time.** **  
** **  
** **Karen tells him the protocol was called the 'Baby Monitor Protocol.'**

Ned starts laughing, along with everyone else in the room. "Baby Monitor?!"

"Where do you come up with these names, Stark?" Clint wheezes.

"Do you have a baby bottle?" Sam laughs at Peter.

"A lil baby bib?" Bucky joins in, a smile on his face as he makes a little pinching motion over his chest where the bib was.

"Do you eat worms with that bird suit?" Peter fires back at Sam. Sam gapes at him as Bucky starts laughing, Steve and the rest of the Avengers joining in. 

**  
** **Peter throws his pen in frustration or humiliation. Of course it was called that. He throws that conversation away and goes onto another topic. He tells Karen to play footage from last Friday. ** **  
** **  
** **Karen sounds amused when she complies. The AI shows footage of Peter being the best idiot in front of a mirror in his suits mask.** **  
  
**

"No offense but you look like an idiot." Ned tells Peter.

"Thanks, bro." Peter replies sarcastically.

"Of course, bro." 

**  
** **He greets 'everyone', then agrees to the imaginary party-goers that it was a 'kick-ass' party. He greets Imaginary-Liz, asking what's up. The mask winks on the recording.** **  
** **  
** "Did it just wink?" Sam laughs. **  
** **  
** **Peter tries to wave the footage away, repeating 'no' in an embarrassed tone. He was just messing around, he tells Karen, then asks her to go later in the day. Karen fast-forwards the video.** **  
** **  
** **Peter now has a hammer. "It is I, Thor, son of Odin!"** **  
  
**

"Thor would love this." Steve muses.

"Hey, where is Thor?" Tony asks, looking at the ceiling, though it's not where the answer comes from.

"In space." Bruce answers. Tony and everyone else looks at him in shock. The doctor fidgets with all the attention. "I was with him. In space. Space is… Interesting."

"Oh, cool." Tony says.

"Wait, then why isn't he here?" MJ asks Bruce, then realises that he may not know.

Author comes in. "He's a fucking god, I'm not that powerful, I'm only one gay kid with a phone and Google Docs."

**  
** **On the video, Peter continues his impressions of Thor, holding the wooden hammer in his hand.** **  
** **  
** **Peter is embarrassed once more. That was not what he asked for. Doesn't Karen know that the footage he wanted to review was about their previous topic; the weapon deal. **

"This must suck for you." MJ says to Peter.

"Yeah, only a little." Peter responds sarcastically.

"'Only a little'." MJ snorts.

**  
** **Karen laughs, his impressions where very amusing.** **  
** **  
** **Peter stands from his chair, begging her to show him the arms deal. The footage reveals the three men from the arms deal Peter was looking for. Who were the two on the right? ** **  
  
**

"One second you're an idiot and the next your serious, wow." A student says.

**  
** **Karen searches the law enforcement's database. She found no criminal records on the two men.** **  
  
**

"Nothing?" Ned sounds disappointed.

**  
** **Peter is shocked. There was nothing?** **  
  
**

"Wow, you're twins." MJ says to Peter and Ned.

"Twinsies." Ned laughs. Peter joins him in his laughter while MJ snorts.

**  
** **She identified one of the men, Aaron Davis, 33 years of age. He had an address in Queens and has a criminal record." Karen says. The HUD displays the criminal record of Aaron Davis.** **  
** **  
** **Peter tells Karen they were gonna pay him a visit. Karen asks if he would like to activate Enhanced Interrogation Protocol**

"Oh no." Peter rubs his brow.

"Ooh that sounds cool." Flash voices his thoughts, speaking the thoughts of quite a few other students and teachers.

"What's the Enhanced Interrogation Protocol?" Ms. Warren wonders, turning to Peter. Many other people in the room twist in their seats to watch Peter in interest.

"Embarrassing." Peter answers.

**  
** **"Uh, yeah." Peter was excited, wondering what this would entail.** **  
  
**

Ned shifts. "I can't wait to see this." Peter told Ned about the protocol but never showed him what it did, always dismissing his questioning or trying (and sometimes succeeding) in starting a different conversation. Sometimes he just ignores him.

Peter slumps in his seat.

**  
** **In a parking lot, a scruffy man from the weapons deal, Aaron Davis, is carrying some bags of groceries to his car. The spider drone follows him unnoticed by the man. **

"Watch him smash the drone." A student laughs.

"No, stop, I'm emotionally attached to that drone." The students friend responds in a faux distressed tone.

"That's my emotional support spider-drone."

**Once Aaron opens the trunk, Peter appears in his suit and he webs Aaron’s hand to the trunk. Alarmed, then annoyed, the older man stares at the spider drone.** **  
** **  
** **"Remember me?" Peter speaks in a deep, rough, and metallic voice. **

The room erupts in laughter, no one except for Tony and Peter expecting to hear the small teen to suddenly speak in such a voice. Peter prays to all the gods that may or may not exist (who's to say Thor actually exists? Peter has never met the large blond, so he doesn't know for sure.) that he can sink into his seat, he doubts Thor can make him melt and become one with a chair but hey, he at least tried.

**Peter approaches Aaron’s car in a dramatic display of something that at least looks like confidence. Aaron seems to still be processing what was happening to him. ** **  
  
**

"I feel bad for him, he just wants some food." MJ watches the screen, head tilted.

"I feel guilty, his ice cream melted." Peter admits with one side of his lips pulled in a half-frown.

**  
** **Peter is quick to make demands, he needs information, and he will give it to Peter now. ** **  
  
**

Natasha can't hold back a snort, while Fury outright laughs.

**  
** **Can this kid chill? Aaron tells him to calm down.** **  
** **  
** **Peter doesn't listen, continuing his demand for information, of which he hasn't specified the type he needs.** **  
  
**

"You haven't even told him what info you want. He could give you some recipes for French bread or cookies, that counts as information." Ned says to Peter. Peter blushes and purses his lips as he averts his gaze from his friend, looking at his shoes.

"This was my first time, okay?" His voice becomes almost whine-like as he speaks, shoulders shrugging as his skin reddens. 

**  
** **Aaron ignores his demand, wondering what had happened to his voice. ** **  
  
**

MJ snorts. "He is not impressed nor is he intimidated. Even with red eyes and a demonic voice he knows you're a loser."

Peter pouts at her. "Rude." He straightens his back and tenses his arms to show muscle that's not at all visible in his baggy hoodie. "I am very intimidating." His face almost looks like the angry text emoji, >:(, except more human and less intimidating and overall puppy-like.

"Okay, boomer." MJ snorts. Peter scoffs, playing insulted.

**  
** **Peter tilts his head. He sounds insulted as he asked what he meant.** **  
** **  
** **Aaron answers that he heard him on the bridge, he knows what a girl sounds like.** **  
  
**

There is loud laughter at Aarons answer.

"Do I really sound like a girl?" Peter can't help his drop in self-esteem, an entire lifetime of stereotypes pushed on him from society.

"No one cares if you sound feminine, Peter. And if they do, I'll punch them." MJ tells her friend, who smiles at her. "Screw stereotypes."

**  
** **Peter puffs up as he defends himself, he was a boy! No, a man! ** **  
** **  
** **Aaron sounds tired when he sighs, he doesn't care. ** **  
  
**

MJ raises her eyebrow at Peter, nonverbally telling him 'see?'

**He's a man, Peter insists. He goes back to his previous topic, who was selling the weapons?** **  
** **  
** **Aaron slams the cars trunk shut, startling Peter into stepping back. The small drone chirps and floats around Peter’s head. This kid never done this before. **

"Oh, really? I couldn't tell." MJ says sarcastically. Ned starts wheezing, covering his mouth as his face turns red.

Peter pouts in his seat, he couldn't be that bad, he got information. "Did you even get the information you needed?" MJ looks at him.

"I, in fact, did!" Peter tells the girl proudly, his chin tilting up a fraction in pride.

MJ looks at him, her face looking impressed, which wounds Peter's newly gained pride. "Huh."

**  
** **The pout in his voice is clear as he tells Karen to deactivate interrogation mode. The flying drone flutters back into the small emblem on the suit’s chest. Aaron laughs. **

  
  


"You sound so disappointed." Tony snorts.

"Shut up!" Peter blushes, words coming out without thinking. He blushes heavier when he remembers who spoke, feeling horrified. Rhodey bursts into chuckles, a grin on his face as he laughs.

Tony turns to him, eyebrows raised and looking humoured, his lips quirked into a smile. Instead of reprimanding the boy he just laughs, said boy ignoring his gaze, ignoring even looking at him.

**  
** **Peter's voice is normal when he starts talking again, those dealers were selling weapons that were extremely dangerous, they could not just be out on the streets. One of those weapons cut Delmar's bodega in half. Aaron isn't looking at Peter, instead his gaze is on his fingers, not amused. **

"That guy just" MJ starts, laughing in humour. "doesn't care."

"He just wants to go home." Charles laughs. Other students join in on their laughing, either finding amusement in Aarons lack of interest and/or the two's joking.

"Can't relate." Ned says.

MJ turns to Ned. "Yeah, well, you love hearing about anything Spider-Man related." 

"Yeah, cause that's my dude they're talking about!" Ned has the expression one has when they feel they've one-upped someone. MJ just shakes her head with a small smile.

Peter nudges Ned with a grin, who nudges him back, starting a nudging-war between the two.

**However, once Peter mentions Delmar’s, his head perks up in interest. "You know Delmar's?"** **  
** **  
** **Of course he did, they were the best sandwiches in Queens. ** **  
  
**

"Y'know, Subway isn't that bad."

"Shut up, Sub Haven is better."

"Absolutely not, Delmar's will forever be superior." Peter protests.

"That's just cause you're too poor to have Subway." Another student fires back, looking regretful when Steve, Tony, and Rhodey look at the kid with glares.

"I'm not poor, I just have taste." Peter retorts. 

May nods. They aren't poor, at least not poor enough they can't afford a sandwich. They don't have a lot of money but that doesn't mean they are completely broke, sure, sometimes she's late to pay a bill or two… They aren't the richest. 

Once upon a time they didn't worry but now May occasionally does, especially with Peter's increased metabolism, high enough that one average-sized bowl of pasta isn't gonna be enough for a meal. But more working hours can fix that.

**  
** **Aaron disagrees with Peter's opinion, he thought Sub Haven was pretty good. ** **  
** **  
** **Peter shakes his head, their sandwiches had too much bread. ** **  
  
**

"Bread is delicious, you spider heathen!" A tall boy yelled in outrage.

Ned and Peter start laughing.

**  
** **Aaron defends his appreciation for bread.** **  
  
**

"Yeah! bread is delicious!" 

"Bread Gang rise up."

**  
** **Peter turns and begins to walk away. Stupid interrogation mode. He asks Karen to never do that again. ** **  
** **  
** **Aaron speaks up, the other night Peter told that guy "If you shoot somebody, shoot me." Aaron believed that to be very brave. He didn't want those weapons in this neighborhood, he had a nephew.**

Miles smiles, warmth hugging his heart at his uncle's words.

**  
** **Peter's footsteps cease when Aaron talks, he turns and jogs back to him. Who were those men? What could he tell him about the bird suit guy?** **  
** **  
** **Aaron didn't know anything other than the fact that he was a demon-dressed psychopath.** **  
  
**

There are sighs of disappointment at the lack of information.

"So it was useless?" A student rolls their eyes. 

"No, not really." Peter responds vaguely.

**  
** **Peter drops his head on Aaron’s car, and heaves out a sigh.** **  
  
**

"Mood."

**  
** **Aaron did know where he was going to be, though.** **  
  
**

"Why didn't he just say that?" 

"Watch time." 

"This isn't YouTube, Jason, this is real life."

**  
** **Peter perks up** **  
** **  
** **According to Aaron, the guy he used to work with is going to do a deal with him. ** **  
** **  
** **Peter reacts like a happy puppy. Peter starts to bounce away, giggling happily.** **  
  
**

"You don't even know where he is gonna be." Fury voices.

"I know." Peter grumbles.

**  
** **Aaron stops him with some yells, he didn't know where the location was. ** **  
  
**

**Embarrassed, Peter flounders closer and leans on the car with his arm. ** **  
  
**

"How old is he again?" Clint asks, leaning closer to Natasha.

"I think he's twelve." Natasha answers.

**  
** **Aaron doesn't answer, instead responding with, "Can I give you some advice?"** **  
** **  
** **Peter tilts his head, humming.**

**Aaron tells him he needs to get better at this part of the job. ** **  
** **  
** **Peter recoils in confusion, he is intimidating. Peter shifts, his arms crossing and leaning back in an 'intimidating' pose.**

**  
**"I'm shaking in my boots." MJ deadpans. 

"MJ, I'm pretty sure Satan could threaten you and you'd just stare back unimpressed." Peter says to the teen, not fazed by her sarcasm.

"What's he gonna do? Take my soul? I don't even have one." MJ retorts.

"I don't know, torture you for the rest of eternity?" Ned says, looking concerned.

"He could torture my soul, only if I had one." MJ replies. Ned still looks concerned, same for the adults in the room, worrying for the sanity of the students.

**  
** **Aaron informs Peter that the location was at the Staten Island Ferry, at 11.** **  
** **  
** **Peter panics. Oh no that's so soon. He jogs away, telling Aaron that the webs still connecting Aarons hand to the trunk of the car would dissolve in 2 hours.** **  
  
**

"You're just gonna leave him there?" Betty laughs, though it's not really an amused laugh, moreso just a confused chuckle.

"Criminals don't deserve cold ice cream." Peter answers, confusing Betty.

**  
** **Aaron doesn't like the idea of being stuck to his car.** **  
** **  
** **"Two hours. You deserve that."** **  
** **  
** **Aaron protests, "I got ice cream in here."** **  
  
**

"Peter you better have released him, he has ice cream." Tony scolds the teen. 

"He's a criminal." Peter furrows his brow.

Tony tilts his head with an understanding but not accepting look. "Yeah, but- Ice cream, Peter." 

Peter considers this, then shrugs. "Criminals don't deserve cold ice cream." 

**  
** **"You deserve that. You're a criminal. Bye, Mr. Criminal." Peter waves at the man.** **  
** **  
  
**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GOD I HOPE YOU LIKE THIS BCJSBKWXKSJ IM SO SORRY I HAVENT UPDATED HAVE A GOOD DAY AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS I LOVE YOU
> 
> Dec 30: ok so,,, this story is on hold for... god i dont even know, a month, maybe more? im going to a hospital today to get some help, and last time i was in the hospital for a month, so who knows how long I'll be gone this time.
> 
> i love you all, thank you for your support, and have a good day :)


	12. "You are ninety-eight percent successful."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Dude you saved a ferry!" Flash yells at the student. "Ferry's are huge! Other than those small duck ferry's." Flash gets side tracked. "I once went on a duck ferry, I can't remember seeing many ducks or other birds, but it was fun, and cold, but I got to sit in the driver's seat of the ferry and got to 'drive' it. The driver was nice and made some duck jokes I think. It was raining though, but that didn't matter to me. My family was gonna take me for a cruise that day and instead I went on a duck ferry." Flash realised that didn't matter to him, he still had a lot of fun that day. He stopped. 
> 
> "It was still really fun, though." Flash goes to continue but the movie resumes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i just got out of 3 hospitals, one being a cbat, another being an actual medical hospital, and another being an inpatient hospital!  
time to update.

**Now at the Staten Island Ferry terminal, Peter slings himself onto a roof. As the large orange ferry pulls out of the dock, he takes a running jump and spreads his glider wings. **

"Can't believe a skintight suit can have wings…" Betty still hasn't figured out how it works, considering the suit has so much other stuff in it.

“Technology!” Tony responds to Betty’s confusion. Someone screams in fake fear.

A student gasps, stands, scribbles on a random card- Peter takes a half second to be confused about where they got the card from, then dismissed it. The student balls up the card and throws it at another student, yelling “Technology!” The victim of the balled up card flinches at the sudden assault of paper and looks at the student in confusion.

**Peter lands and hangs on the hull. He peeks through a window, spotting passengers sitting inside. He orders Karen to activate Enhanced Reconnaissance Mode.** **   
  
**

“Spider-Spy.” Ned says to Peter. 

“Spy-Spi- no, that’s stupid…” Peter tries and fails, slumping his shoulders in disappointment. **   
  
**

**Karen complies and the mode is activated. Toomes voice is heard, the sound waves showing up on Peter's HUD. According to Toomes, someone is up front on the main deck.** **   
  
**

“Ah fuck, it’s him.” Liz can’t help but feel hurt at the students words, though she understood them. She couldn’t help feeling dread whenever she saw him on screen, though. She just wants him to do something good, but instead he has killed and hurt people. Her heart clenches painfully, she swallows hard.

  
**Schultz hates the man they're dealing with. **

**   
** “We all hate Toomes.”

“He’s talking about Peter.”

"No, he's not?"   
  
“Oh, he’s cool.” Peter feels flattered by this, and also slightly weirded out, he doesn't know how to deal with being complimented like this, as he is not used to being complimented when he's not in his suit.

**   
** **Peter wonders if that was the guy from the bridge, but he doesn't know the other guy, who is he?** **   
** **   
** **Toomes tells Schultz to just keep him informed on new happenings. ** **   
** **   
** **Karen answers Peter's question, there was no record of him in her database on criminals. Suddenly there was a call from May. Karen asked him if she should reroute to his HUD.** **   
** **   
** **Peter was busy with busting an illegal weapons deal, so he told Karen that he would call May back later. ** **   
  
**

"That's your aunt." Wanda sounds offended on behalf of May.

"I was on a ferry. And in the middle of dealing with a weapons deal, though." Peter defends himself.

Bruce tries to hold back a laugh. "You couldn't call your aunt because you were on a ferry?" 

"Of course, I was not on God's green earth but on the heathen ship." Peter doesn't know what to do or say and is just speaking, his brain having lost connection to his mouth.

"So being on a… 'Heathen ship' means you can't call your family?" Steve responds, sounding deeply confused.

"Family privileges are revoked once off God's green earth." Peter is blushing and has no idea what's going on. May is laughing, so that's good, Peter guesses. But Steve is staring at him with concern and confusion. Peter feels proud, though, he confused Captain America.

"You should have called your aunt."

"Ok boomer." Peter freezes, terror suddenly taking over everything. He just said 'ok boomer' to Steve Rogers. He feels pride creep in hesitantly. Multiple, many times, he has had to deal with Captain America's "What would Captain America do?" lectures. Captain America dropped a plane bridge on him, he doubts punching a bully - something Captain America is famous for - would get him a legit lecture. But skipping class… Maybe. He barely knows the man, especially on a personal level.

Steve just gives him another confused look, but Peter barely notices it, still lost in thought.

**   
** **Peter watches Toomes, the spider drone crawling on his head. Peter asks the little drone to keep an eye on the older man, he couldn't let anyone get away this time.** **   
  
**

"I would die for Dronie." Ned declares, voice strong, getting odd looks from some concerned adults.

"You will." Peter doesn't look at Ned when he says this.

**   
** **Dronie hovers by the window. **

"Baby"

**Peter slinks up to the ferry roof, then crawls towards an edge. **

Someone starts humming that one spy song that just goes 'da, da-da da-nah nuh-nah' or something. 

**Hs looks down to four men on the front deck. Who was the guy on the left?** **   
** **   
** **"Mac Gargan. Extensive criminal record, including homicide. Would you like me to activate Instant Kill?"** **   
  
**

"Oh shit." 

"Why would someone kill someone?" 

"Many reasons." MJ says cryptically. She gets odd looks from everyone in the room, some very worried and others just 'what the fuck?' "We don't even know the situation." MJ defends herself, voice almost indifferent. Self defense, insanity, revenge, and other reasons, most of them not good but they explain the crime.

"Why would you give a teenager Instant Kill Mode?" Principal Morita sounds incredulous at the idea, rightfully so, a few years back he had seen a student build a robot with taser hands because another student was bullying him. 

Tony shrugs, looking embarrassed but he is hiding it well from those who weren't close to him. "Just in case, he isn't exactly fighting other teenagers."

**   
** **Peter recoils at the idea of killing somebody. Karen has to stop offering that choice. ** **   
  
**

"Are you ever going to use Instant Kill?" Ned wonders, looking curiously at Peter. 

"Absolutely not." 

**   
** **Schultz casually walks to Gargan. "White pickup truck." Gargan tilts his head to a thin man who walks away.** **   
  
**

"So cliche. Be unique and use a small clown car." MJ scoffs.

Peter imagines Toomes and his workers piling in a clown car and has to hold in his laughter.

**   
** **Peter whispers to his drone to scan the ferry for a white pickup truck. The tiny metal flying spider scans the cargo under the deck and detects a pickup truck. It hovers around the truck and scans the contents. Toomes’ coworker exits the car and guides the slim man to the back.** **   
** **   
** **Peter sounded excited when he whispers, how perfect this was, has all the buyers, and sellers in one place, and has the weapons with them.**

"Somethings gonna go wrong, isn't it?" Charles predicts, leaning back in his seat as he watches the screen. 

"The ferry literally got cut in half, Flash." Flash responds, tilting his head to look at Charles with an expression that shone with unimpress.

"Oh yeah…" Charles' shoulders slumped a bit.

**"Incoming call from Tony Stark."** **   
** **   
** **Karen ignores Peter telling her to cancel call. Tony's voice is heard greeting him and his face pops up on Peter's HUD. ** **   
  
**

"You're dead." A student deadpans to Peter in a matter-of-fact voice. Others nod their head in agreement.

"Yeah." Peter sounds like he was forced to accept it, his tone causing other students all assume that he was forced to accept that he wasn't going to just leave the soon-to-be-halved ferry consequent-free.

"That sucks." Another student responds. Peter thanks the student.

**   
** **Peter responds with an awkward tone, trying to dodge the call by using the 'I'm at school' excuse.** **   
  
**

"No, you're not." Tony says at the exact same time as Karen.

**   
** **Karen unknowingly copies Tony.**

Rhodey lets out a loud bark of laughter. 

**   
** **Tony compliments the teen on his work in D.C..** **   
  
**

"This is a soft side of Tony Stark that I only recently learned existed and…" Many students were still reeling from that fact, some students only thinking it existed in fanfiction.

"Have you seen him with his wife?" MJ's voice held a hardness Peter knew she spoke with when interacting with people she thought were idiots. 

"No?"

"Dude his eyes hold so much more love than I thought was possible." MJ rolls her eyes to accentuate her point. "In almost every photo of the two he's always looking at her, and he is so obviously in love with her." 

The student looks like a new world view was shown to them.

Tony was grinning in his seat.

**   
** **Peter just replies with: "Okay."** **   
** **   
** **Tony takes off his glasses.**

Rhodey isn't even surprised, neither is Bruce. They both know that his sunglasses are his shield in public places, almost like his armour, but for 'Tony Fucking Stark', not 'Tony Stark.'

**Tony supports Peter unlike his dad, he was trying to break the cycle of shame. Tony glances down, away from the camera.** **   
  
**

Many who aren't close to the engineer are surprised by this. But Flash understands, the teen slowly understanding the asshole everyone thought the billionaire was.

**   
** **Peter tries to exit the conversation, he was in the middle of 'something' at the moment.** **   
** **   
** **Tony looks hurt for a brief moment. He tells the kid to not cut him off when he was complimenting him. The ferry horn interrupts him with a loud blare. The man is instantly suspicious. What was that?**

"R.I.P.." Was muttered by a student Peter could not identify. 

**   
** **Peter tries to save himself, now he was at band practice. ** **   
** **   
** **Happy told Tony that Peter had quit band practice six weeks ago. Tony questions Peter once more on what that sound was. ** **   
  
**

"Dude he knows you quit band practice." Ned is visibly and audibly awed. 

"Yeah, I think he even knows my sleep schedule." Peter responds, now Ned looks slightly weirded out but the presence of his superhero idol hasn't seemed to have worn off, as he is still awed by the man.

"What." May sounds very confused and concerned.

"He slept at the compound a few weeks ago." Tony sort of answers the questions many have. 

Ned is lightly, yet excitedly tapping the arm of the chair with his hands. "You slept at the compound?!" He whisper-yells.

"And now you know his sleep schedule?" Wanda asks with an odd, almost disgusted look on her face, her expression shared by Steve and Clint.

"I never said I did, and I don't." Tony answers, tilting his head up a small fraction. "FRIDAY probably does, though." Every room in the compound has scanners to tell the heat and health of someone - like, say, they're wounded, although they cannot do complicated stuff like blood tests and internal scans. The bedrooms bathrooms, unlike the other rooms in the compound, do not have cameras, but they do have the scanners and audio. 

**   
** **Peter panics and ends the call. ** **   
  
**

"Rude." 

"In his defense he's trying to stop a weapons dealing thing." 

"But- … Yeah, I guess you're right." 

**   
** **Tony's protest is cut off by the call ending. Peter yells, his tone slightly embarrassed, "I’ll take those!" His web snatches some keys. "Yoink** **   
  
**

"Yoink!" Someone wheezed, bending over and covering their mouth.

"Wig snatched." Someone yelled, a bottle suddenly appeared, flying through the air and hitting them on the head. 

"Anna-oop." This starts a wave of voices saying 'And I oop' like those fish in SpongeBob.

"God, save us all…" Someone groans.

**   
** **Peter leaps onto the deck. He greets the men, they had missed the illegal-weapons-deal-ferry, it was at 10:30. **

"You need to work on your quips, if I'm being honest." MJ speaks, laid back in her seat as she watches the screen with a hidden curious expression.

Peter raises a finger to defend himself. "In my defense I have anxiety." MJ nods, her head canting a bit to the side in a silent 'fair.'

**His webs disarm two men, he then kicks Gargan. He dodges a punch from Schultz's electrified gauntlet, which gets stuck in a gate.** **   
  
**

"Dude, that was so cool." Ned has not lost his enthusiasm, his hand tightly gripping the arm of his chair as he bounces almost unnoticeably in his seat.

"Thanks." Peter chirps, a smile on his lips as he glances at his excited friend.

**   
** **Randy speaks into his communicator, 'spider-guy' was on the ferry, Toomes leaves his seat. **

"Dun dun dunnnn…" Someone mumbles in a dark tone.

"You could have namer yourself Spider-Guy, or Man-Spider." A student gently insults Peter's superhero name.

"Man-Spider isn't any better than Spider-Man or Spider-Guy." Another student voices.

"Why not just 'Spider'?" A teen questions Peter, waving their hand.

"In my defence, the media named me, I didn't choose 'Spider-Man' but I kinda liked it, so I kept it." Peter answers, shrugging his shoulders.

"What about Tarantula?" Ned adds in.

MJ quickly disposes of the name, "Peter isn't big enough to be called Tarantula." 

Peter frowns, looking at his arms. He squeezes them. Ned pokes his arm,

"Musckle." Ned squeezes Peter's muscle.

**Two thugs get up behind Peter, all intimidation-like, he throws the thugs. Apologizing sarcastically that maybe his throw was a little too hard. **

"Spider-Man could throw me off a ship and I'd thank him." 

"Become a criminal and I'll grant your wish." Peter jokes back.

**The teen eyes Schultz, who is busy struggling to get free. He notes that the other guy was better. He reloads his web-shooter. "I’m honestly, I’m-I’m shocked."**

**   
** "That was so lame." MJ criticizes him.

"I thought it was pretty good!" Peter defends himself, although he must admit he needs to get better with his quips, maybe if he watches vines during this stuff he would be better? Confusion is a great weapon against criminals.

**   
** **Peter shoots a web grenade behind him, causing a thug to become stuck to the wall with it.**

"Dude that was so awesome, I love how you can just do that," Ned reenacts shooting a web grenade. "without even looking!" 

Peter smiles. "Thanks it's my anxiety"

**In the cargo area, Toomes bashesta man’s head against the truck**

Liz gasps, covering her mouth. Her heart breaks all over again, she hates how her dad does this. She honestly wouldn't have minded as much if he was just simply selling weapons, but he is hurting people, killing people, while doing it. 

**He then turns to Peter with a smirk, who is standing on the deck. **

**Peter prepares himself and goes to run to him, but is interrupted by agents bursting through multiple doors, all aiming their guns at him.**

"Why are they aiming their guns at him?! He's Spider-Man! He's a good guy!" Abe yells, slamming his hand on his arm rest.

"Yeah!" Many shouts rise from the crowd, angry at the agents threatening their peer and hero.

Tony sighs, rubbing his forehead. The agents were supposed to go after the criminals, not the vigilante.

"Why are they aiming their guns at you?!" Ned sounds appalled at the prospect. He once saw Peter cry over seeing a small deer, and another time over a puppy - this one being more frequent.

**   
** **The FBI agents shout, "Freeze! FBI!"** **   
  
**

**"Don’t move."** **   
** **   
** **"Get on the ground!"** **   
** **   
** **"FBI!"** **   
  
**

"Yeah as if it wasn't already obvious you were FBI…" MJ snarks, her face was angry, arms crossed but legs spread in anger and self soothing.

**   
** **Peter has his arms outstretched. What? What did they mean 'FBI?' Karen answers him, reciting a sentence from Google on what the FBI was. ** **   
** **   
** **Peter knew what the FBI was he just didnt know what they were doing here. And why were they aiming at him, the guys dealing the weapons were tied up in his webs.** **   
  
**

"Yeah, why are they there? They should be there to imprison the obvious criminals, not the frequent headlining superhero…" MJ says, her form, despite being seated, is imposing and angry. 

Tony makes himself a fraction smaller, which Peter thought wasn't possible. "It's my fault." Tony admits.

"Excuse me?!" May shouts.

"You called the FBI on the kid?!" Steve sounds pissed, his body raising to be taller than the smaller man while staying seated.

"They weren't meant to shoot the kid! I called them after I found out where the criminals he was chasing were!" Tony defended himself, raising his arms wide. "I didn't know they went after Peter." He lowers his arms, face upset and guilty.

**   
** **A mechanical wing shoots out from a truck, causing the agents turn to it. Toomes tears out from the truck and flies to the deck, bullets shooting at him from the guns of the agents.** **   
  
**

"Oh damn." 

"That, um." Hesitation. "That looks cool."

"He bad guy." Another student counters.

"Metal wings." The student rebuts. The other student nods, 

"True."

"The Hudson." Peter deadpans.

"Bad guy." Both students nod in agreement.

The teachers, especially the English teacher, look confused and appalled. 

**   
** **Peter screams at the agents to get out of the way, they could get seriously injured by Toomes weapon.** **   
  
**

"They aimed their guns at you and you saved them…" A student has a wistful tone as they say this, their head tilting as their eyelids lower slightly.

"They were just doing their jobs." Peter answers the question he knew some had. He shrugs at some looks of differing opinions and ideas that were directed towards him.

**   
** **Toomes fires a weapon, picks up a car, and tosses it to the agents. **

"He could throw a car?" Charles looks impressed. Flash throws an eraser at his face,

"Toomes is a bad guy."

"But his suit is kinda cool, I can appreciate his armour without liking the man wearing it." Charles defends himself with a matter-of-fact tone.

**Peter yells once more to watch out and to move.**

"You're a good kid." Bruce says to Peter, the man barely noticeably nodding as he says so. 

Peter is silent for a moment as he fanboys. "Thanks!" He squeaks. Looking at Ned, he visibly doesn't know what to do with himself at the praise. Ned doesn't either.

**Toomes hits Peter with a car, causing him to fall into the water. He then fires energy blasts at a man’s arm. He tells his men to go to the top deck, they were leaving. ** **   
  
**

"No." A student drawls, "Stay and get arrested for your crimes." 

"Demon-man must be imprisoned for his crimes against humanity."

"Cwimes agwainst humanitwy oo-woo." 

Many students look to Peter in a panic, silently calling for help.

"Throw him in a room full of cheese."

"But cheese is good!"

"True…" A nod in agreement. " The cheese is fake."

"So it's a lie?"

"Shut up."

"Just throw him in a hole all the way to the Earth's core, it's hotter than Hell down there."

"But then he'd be the first person to be in the Earth's core and that's awesome."

"Okay, fine," They throw their hands up. "Just throw him in prison for life."

"I'm pretty sure he already has a life sentence or something."

"Good!"

Liz, getting visibly more upset as the conversation went, hunched and curled in on herself. She recently found out about her dad's criminal activities and now gets to see it for herself, while also hearing people, albeit rightfully, shun the man who cared for her her entire life. Betty rubbed her arm, albeit looking slightly awkward, telling Liz nonverbally that she agreed with her father being in prison.

Why couldn't her dad just let them become poor or something? He wouldn't have gone to prison and they could all be happy.

**   
** **Peter fires his web at Schultz, but misses. He then shoots a web at Toomes' leg and tugs. **

"Arms!" A student yells in appreciation of Peter's arms. Peter is visibly confused.

"I'll never get used to this…" He mutters, his face blushing in embarrassment at the attention he's been getting ever since they arrived in the theater room.

**Toomes moves his large metal wings in front of him to protect himself from the gunfire, then fires a blast at the agents.**

“Smart.” Clint mutters. “Using his wings as protection." Natasha slaps his arm. "What?!" Clint yelps, not expecting the slap. Natasha slaps him again.

"Stop acting like children, the teenager's are more mature than you two." Fury reprimands in a deadpan voice, glancing at them out of the corner of his single eye.

Clint points at Natasha, "She slapped me!" Natasha jabs him with her nail. "Ow!"

"You complimented Toomes." Natasha tells him.

"And?! He's smar- Stop! Don't slap me!" He yells when the spy tries to slap him again, Clint dodging the slap by leaping out of his seat, standing in a defensive stance and pointing accusingly at her.

**One blast hits an indoor seating area. Peter weighs Toomes with a car attached to his web. **

"How strong are you again?" A student asks Peter, looking awed. 

"Very." He answers simply. He can lift quite a few tons, over fifty. Tony voices that fact.

"Fifty?! Tons?!" Coach Wilson yells.

Sam slaps Bucky. "Grandpa, you better do some pushups and lift some weights if you wanna beat string bean here." 

Bucky seems perplexed. "Ok?"

**Dodging a blast, the spider-themed boy leaps to the upper deck and fires more webs. Hanging from Toomes' suit, Peter swings over the water. **

"Damn." 

"Looks like you got some competition, Sam." Steve says, smirking in amusement. Sam squawks, a hand over his heart. 

"Skwa!" Peter imitates the falcon-styled superhero, tossing his hand dramatically over his heart, letting it droop to exaggerate the positioning.

"I'm gonna squash you!" Sam yells at the teen. 

"Do it, coward! Bet you won't. Coward." Peter baits jokingly. Sam grabs his shoe and makes a move to throw it, but doesn't release it.

**The mechanically suited man fires at Peter, who swings back onto the deck. Toomes slices the strands of web with the blades of his wings.**

"I love the cinnamon-tography of this movie." 

"The what."

**Peter shoots a strand at the barrel of Toomes' weapon, he activates the taser web. Electricity strikes up the web, the weapon is then yanked away from Toomes. Landing on the deck, it bounces around wildly, shooting beams or purple lasers around as it bounces. **

"What the hell?" MJ murmurs, glancing at Peter, who shrugs.

"Why is it like that?" 

"You can't ask that, it's so rude." A student says, joking.

**Peter traps the weapon using copious amounts of webbing.** **   
** **   
** **Toomes tells Peter he didn't understand what he and his men were doing.** **   
  
**

"All we need to know is that it goes boom." Bruce retorts. Tony looks at his friend in appreciation and pride.

**   
** **Peter raises his hands in offense.**

**The cores lasers shoot up, breaking up into multiple rays. **

"Oh fuck."

"That's very dangerous." Ms. Warren says to Peter. Her coworkers nod, seconding the statement.

"Yeah, I was covered in bruises." Peter responds, agreeing as well. Ms. Warren looks very concerned. "It was all over the news," He says, talking about the ferry incident. "You'll see."

**The energy blast cuts through the upper floors, barely missing the frightened passengers. **

"God, imagine being one of those passengers." A student mumbles to their friends in sympathy. They nod.

"I know right?" 

"I'd just jump into it." The friend mimes jumping into a laser.

"Same, honestly."

**In the air, Toomes dodges the blasts as they cut through the sky. Schultz runs toward a deck, he jumps and lands on Toomes' back. **

"Is it bad that I wish he just fell? Or that the Vulture got knocked down by his own laser?" A student wonders, brow pinched in contemplation.

"I don't think so, he is the villain." Another student explained.

"I don't think it'd be bad if we kept these thoughts to ourselves!" Betty tries to make Liz feel better. It may have been a few months since she came to terms with the fact that her father was a criminal, but she's now seeing it for herself. 

**The rays slice through the middle of the ferry, then vanish, leaving a deafening, foreboding silence.**

The room is silent as the viewers waited with bated breath in trepidation, watching the screen as the passengers of the ferry are frozen. 

**The passengers move with cautious steps. **

"Are they gonna be okay?" Ned asks Peter, looking to his friend for confirmation.

"No one was seriously injured…" Peter replies, voice quiet with guilt. He feels bad, he's reviewed the footage to see where it all went wrong, maybe if he had not tried to pull Toomes' weapon away the ferry wouldn't have split.

"It wasn't your fault." Tony tries to reassure the teen. Peter goes to respond 'Then why did you take my suit?' but holds his tongue.

**In the cargo area, pools of water start to split up the ferry, filling up the bay. Cars float in the floodwaters, and people are knocked over.** **   
  
**

"Holy crap." 

"I'm never gonna use a ferry again…" 

"And this," The teacher gestures to the screen. "Is why water is deadly and one of the most dangerous forces of nature." 

"No shit…" Charles mutters, watching the white water moving a car.

**   
** **Peter panics. "Oh my god. What do I do? Karen, uh, give me an X-ray of the boat and target all the strongest points." ** **   
  
**

"Quick thinking." Bruce compliments the teen.

"I think I work well in stressful situations. I mean, you kinda have to, y'know?" Peter comments with a shrug, waving off the compliment, though on the inside he is vibrating with excitement at Bruce's compliment.

"Definitely. Being slow can get you, your partners, or innocent people killed." Steve adds on, nodding at Peter's comment.

Peter's lips tighten. "Yeah." He thinks of his uncle, happy mood from being complimented by Bruce Banner gone instantly.

**   
** **Peter’s display shows strong points on the structure. Firing the web grenades, he swings between the two sides of the watercraft. ** **   
** **   
** **Peter launches himself zigzag on the upper floors of the ferry, connecting the splitting vehicle with lines of web. He dodges smokey flames as he races down the length of the ferry. **

"Oh my go- there's fire, is your suit fireproof?" A student asks, voice sounding anxious. Peter thinks for a short moment,

"May- uh," He continues thinking. He's been in multiple burning buildings and his suit has only gotten covered in soot and burning embers. Maybe it's not fireproof and just takes something very hot to set it alight? He shakes his head, of course it's not fireproof, it's basically metal-reinforced spandex. "Probably not." He answers.

Ned turned to Tony for an answer. "For his safety, I can neither confirm or deny that question." Tony spoke, face almost blank as he said so. There were groans of annoyance in the audience but Tony ignored them.

**Peter fires several strands of web that split and latch onto the rust orange beams, he then binds them together with another strand. The teen lands and crouches on the top of a roof. He eyes the two straining halves of the ferry that are crochet with thin silvery webs.** **   
** **   
** **Karen is heard congratulating the web-slinger. **

The students start cheering for Peter. "Great job, kid." Steve claps for the teen with a grin.

Tony looks down.

Peter stutters awkwardly, "Uh-Um there is no need for this…" He chuckles in embarrassment.

"Dude you saved a ferry!" Flash yells at the student. "Ferry's are huge! Other than those small duck ferry's." Flash gets side tracked. "I once went on a duck ferry, I can't remember seeing many ducks or other birds, but it was fun, and cold, but I got to sit in the driver's seat of the ferry and got to 'drive' it. The driver was nice and made some duck jokes I think. It was raining though, but that didn't matter to me. My family was gonna take me for a cruise that day and instead I went on a duck ferry." Flash realised that didn't matter to him, he still had a lot of fun that day. He stopped. 

"It was still really fun, though." Flash goes to continue but the movie resumes.

**"You are ninety-eight percent successful."**

**   
** "How?!" Flash shouts.

"What?!" Ned screams. "Fu- Heck!" 

"What does she mean… Ninety-eight?" MJ is staring in stunned disbelief and incomprehension at the screen. 

**   
** **Peter sounds confused and scared: "Ninety-eight?"** **   
  
**

"He shot like more than thirty webs with an incredible tensile strength that can stop a freaking train, how is it only ninety-eight?" Ned is very confused.

"Maybe just because it's ninety-eight doesn't mean he fails, right?" Cindy asks, not really believing herself. **   
  
**

**The screen cuts to a scared man, who then rights himself and starts cheering. "Yeah, Spider-Man!" Other cheers are heard.** **   
** **   
** **The ropes of web begin to break with loud snaps, rattling the whole ship and making the passengers scream and fall. ** **   
  
**

Peter flinches at the snaps. The vocal confusion of his classmates is like background noise in his ears as his mind replays the surrounding screams of the passengers.

**   
** **A distraught Peter stumbles and screams in denial. Why couldn't 98 be enough?** **   
** **   
** **Waves continue to flood the cargo hold, pushing the cars. Frenzied workers rush to cling to the posts as the stream crashes past. **

The room is silent except for the speakers playing the sounds of the flooding water and shouts of the fearful.

Peter watches with wide eyes as he sees again what happened that day. Normal teenager's worst days are losing a favorite game, pet, or worst-case a friend or family member. His worst day is watching his uncle die; Second is this, trying and failing to save an entire ferry; Third is the day Toomes hijacked Tony's plane, but at least he stopped him.

**On the upper level, passengers fall down the floor of the leaning ferry, sliding across the floor. The gap between the two sides widens as the webs continue to snap. **

"This is why we should try-" Mr. Harrington tries to make an inspirational statement but Principal Morita makes the 'Bad Idea' motion, his hands waving across his neck as he shakes his head. Mr. Harrington nods his thanks with embarrassed, tightened lips.

**Peter jumps into the air. "No!" He grabs a thread and shoots another. Arms outstretched, Peter hangs between the two sides, trying to hold them together. **

Coach Wilson remembers a year ago when this same teenager had asthma and couldn't even run a mile in under ten minutes. While most of the school couldn't, as this was a school for people who prefer their favored academics more than sports, this teen was never in the top fifty of most athletic in the school.

Now look at him. Holding together a ferry after fighting a guy dressed in a demonic metal vulture suit.

Ned's jaw is dropped as he stares at the screen. That's his best friend right there. He feels pride well up in his chest for his friend. He turns to Peter who is looking straight ahead at the screen with a blank face yet emotion filled eyes. Ned gently slaps his arm. Peter flinches then looks at Ned in confusion, "What?"

"Dude." Ned whispers. He points at the screen, "You're so awesome."

Peter's face breaks into an embarrassed grin, his shoulders rise up and he looks away, "Shut up."

**His entire body shakes from grasping together two pieces of a huge ferry with thin strands of web. His arms visibly stretch and tremble.** **   
** **   
** **Suddenly, the two sides start to slowly move like magnets towards the other. Peter drops softly on the floor of the seating area and looks around. What? Did he do it? Why was it coming back together?** **   
** **   
** **Iron Man rises outside a window, his head tilts and Tony's mechanical voice comes through the speakers. "Hi, Spider-Man. Band practice, was it?"** **   
  
**

"Dude if I saw that I would shit myself." Sam says, nodding once at the screen then turning his head towards Tony with a raised, unimpressed brow. Tony shrugs in response.

"I almost did." Peter replies. Ned shakes his head in agreement, looking scared for his onscreen friend. Flash looks like he made brownies in his pants and his knuckles are paler than Peter's webs.

"Stark, couldn't you have been… Less terrifying?" Wanda says slowly to the man, face deadpan as she looks at him. 

"With all the information I have now, maybe." Tony answers truthfully. Bruce has his head in his hands.

**   
** **Hovering against the ferry, Tony holds up one half of the boat. Drones fly in and attach themselves to the other half. Thrusters fire harder and propel the two halves of the ferry forward and meet them together.** **   
** **   
** **Iron Man turns to Peter through the window, his metal mask somehow conveying disappointment, then soars off.** **   
** **   
** **The crowd cheers for Iron Man.** **   
  
**

"Damn." MJ says to herself.

**   
** **Peter slings himself into the cargo hold, where Iron Man is welding with red lasers. "Uh, Mr. Stark? Hey, Mr. Stark. Could I do anything? What do you want me to do?" Peter's ** **   
** **   
** **"I think you’ve done enough."**

**   
** "Tony…" Bruce scolds the man.

May side-eyes the engineer. 

**   
** **Iron Man flies away. Peter climbs to the top platform and looks around. Smoke is pouring out from the vessel. Rescue boats and helicopters approach from all directions.** **   
  
**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you, all of you, for being so patient with me! i love you all, hope you enjoyed this!


	13. "I'd run."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You may be wondering, "What's with the new writing style?"  
Well... I was threatened with this work being deleted if I didnt change it, and so I did. That is partially why I took so long.  
Enjoy!

**Schultz walks toward Toomes in the shop when the murdering criminal with a mechanic, demonic suit voices his unwanted words, he's just gonna run?** **  
** **  
  
**

"I'd run." Mr. Harrington says to his fellow workers that present knowledge to the youth.

"Any sane person would run." Ms. Warren comments.

**  
** **Schultz responds with something that shows he may just have more brain cells than his boss, the FBI was waiting for them. Now they're on Iron Man’s radar? They should definitely run.** **  
  
**

"You should." Liz tries to tell her dad, but he was a mere few however-many-pixels on a screen. She winces her eyes and frowns, heart squeezing.

**  
** **Toomes ignores the fact that being a janitor exists, even if it might have a much smaller paycheck than his current… occupation.** **  
  
**

"McDonalds could use a janitor." MJ voices, staring at the screen with a bored expression on her face, her arms crossed loosely across her torso.

"My room could use a janitor." Charles says.

"Damn, how many whoppers and mayo stains are there on your floor?" A student asks.

Charles gets a dramatically pained and embarrassed look on his face, "Oh… Too many, my chap." He shakes his head and scrunches up his face like he's holding back tears. "Too many…" He sniffs in an exaggerated manner. Abe rubs his shoulder and then shakes him.

**  
** **"So now what?"** **  
  
**

"I want chocolate." 

**  
** **Toomes looks to Mason. He asks if he can the high-altitude seal up and running in time.** **  
  
**

Peter is still surprised by the fact that Toomes did not have the seal ready to use.

**  
** **Mason gets a surprised look on his face. He wonders if he's serious. He can, and the man will not regret his decision. ** **  
** **  
** **Toomes turns back to Schultz. He asks the man if he's in. Schultz lets a small smiles cross his face and lifts his eyebrows.** **  
  
**

"Oh, come on…" Betty throws her head back and looks disappointed.

**  
** **Helicopters are still flying around the ferry. **

"Oh, helicopters." 

Flash decides to comment, "I've been on a helicopter once! It was scary, but fun. New York is kinda beautiful." 

"I know! I love seeing the sun set and all the buildings from above!" Peter responds, thinking back to his favorite memories of Queens' scenery.

"You've been on a helicopter before?" Flash asks, his head tilted slightly in confusion.

Peter is silent.

"Oh." Flash is embarrassed.

"I'm Spider-Man." answers Peter.

**Peter is kneeling on the edge of a tall building, mask hanging limply in his fingers, when Iron Man glides towards him.** **  
  
**

"Oh no…" Peter puts his head in his hands. He had almost blocked this out of his memory, and then he is sent to this weird, magical theatre.

Tony puts on his sunglasses and crosses his arms and legs, putting on a faux indifferent expression with a near silent sigh. Rhodey sees all this and is nervous.

May is confused, tilting her head at the two's reactions, then the lightbulb hits and a look of understanding, then anger paints her face. She looks at Tony in disappointment and anger, Rhodey glancing back at her in confusion.

**  
** **"Previously on Peter Screws the Pooch:" **

"Asshole." May says.

Ned is suprised, and confused. Peter was vague to him when he told him what happened, so he wasn't expecting this reaction from the three. "I am so confused. Help?" Ned requests from Peter.

"No. Just watch." 

**Tony told Peter to stay away from this. Instead, the teen hacked a multimillion-dollar suit so he could sneak around his back doing the only thing he instructed him to not do. Tony lands behind the teen. His disappointment in the boy is audible.** **  
  
**

"He was trying to stop a crime, he was doing what he does best. It ended horribly, but no one died." Mau defends Peter. 

"Yeah but the ferry was cut in half." Peter's large grin is upside down. 

"You tried your best against a criminal with alien weapons. You're human, and his weapons were strong enough to cut steel."

"Not to mention he had a freaking black hole grenade. Black hole. I don't know how but he did it." MJ adds on to May's defence.

"I was upset…" Tony takes a breath. "I was wrong to say and do what I did, but I was planning on giving the suit back either way. Um, I did not know all that Peter knew, big surprise, I know," Tony tries to joke. "And he proved himself in the end.

The room is silent in surprise, most stuck on the fact that Tony took Peter's suit away.

"Y'know that makes sense for Spidey's absence before homecoming."

"Remember when Buzzfeed said Spidey was dead?"

Peter swings his head to Betty. "They what?" His eyes were wide like a deer's in front of a car, suprise bright as neon lights in Vegas.

"Yeah, I'll send it to you when we get out of here."

Author snorts from his place on his bed, typing this out on his phone. He turns to the reader, "I'm sick, can you tell?" He coughs, then takes a sip of his water in misery, his back feeling like a 90-pound dog was standing on it.

"Okay." Peter replies, he and everyone else unaware of what took place a paragraph above. They are also unaware they are characters in our universe.

**  
** **Peter asks if everyone was okay, desperate.** **  
** **  
****"No thanks to you."  
  
**

Flash stands up in a fury and walks over to the billionaire.

"Here we go." Natasha leans back.

"Bitch!" Tony's responding expression was priceless. "No thanks to him? No thanks to him? Then help him. He shoots webs and is probably stronger than Captain America. He doesn't have the tech you have because he's in highschool. Don't act disappointed that he tried to save people and almost failed because a whole ass ferry was falling apart. That teenager saved a ferry full of hundreds of people! He knew more than you did about the situation, he saves people every day." 

**Crossed, Peter slides off the edge and approaches Tony, face irate and his stride riled. Those weapons were out there, and he had tried to tell him about it, but he didn’t listen. The ferry wouldn't have been destroyed if he would have just listened. "If you even cared, you’d actually be here."** **  
  
**

"What are you to him?" Natasha asks.

"His mentor?" Tony replies, confused.

"Then gain his trust back and teach him."

**  
** **The Iron Man suit opens, revealing Tony inside. He steps down from the suit and marches toward Peter, who backs off.** **  
  
**

"Oh shit."

"Run, Peter."

"You dramatic piece of shit." Snorts Rhodey, raising an eyebrow at Tony.

**  
** **Tony walked towards the boy. He did listen. He had called the FBI. He asks if Peter knew he was the only one who believed in him, everyone else had said he was crazy to recruit a 12-year old kid..** **  
** **  
** **Peter corrects Tony, he was 15.** **  
**

"I can see how you can get that confused." Clint speaks up after a period of silence.

**Tony zips his lips angrily. What if someone died, then it would be different because that death would be on Peter. But if Peter died, it was on him. Tony points to himself. He didn't need Peter's death on his conscience.** **  
** **  
** **Peter looks down, feeling bad. "Yes, sir." He apologizes. But sorry wasn't enough. ** **  
** **  
** Tony sighs, he was being a little harsh on the kid. Peter needed to understand the repercussions of his actions, a beam from one of the weapons could have sliced through and killed someone, sure it was probably unlikely but one death could have thousands of people rising against people. **  
** **  
** **Peter understands what Tony was saying, he only wanted to be like him. But Tony wanted him to be better. He asks for the suit back. ** **  
** **  
**The students start shouting, angry. "You don't know what you're doing!" They stand up and point at Tony, faces twisted in anger.

"He's a hero, he saves people everyday!" The crowd's collective voice blend together into a loud blob of unintelligible vocal anger.

"Yeah! Without his suit he can't go out and save people!"

The principal stands up, arms outstretched as he tries to calm them. "Settle down, settle down." Nobody listens and some students start shouting at him, it seems that their anger at the 'Capitalist Pig' - as some called Tony - was contagion.

Bucky, seeing the man's struggles stands up to help him. "Quiet!" The single word draws on for the few seconds it takes for the teenagers to sit down and be quiet.

"I get my suit back." Peter says to help. He was very shocked by their response. He only saw this kind of anger on a few occasions, mostly online. **  
** **  
** **Peter looks up at Tony, shocked, but he doesn't retaliate, he merely asks how long he won't have his suit.** **  
** **  
** **Tony stares at Peter, face blank, he won't get his suit back, it will be gone forever.** **  
** **  
** **Peter shakes his head, jaw dropping. What does he mean 'forever?' He starts pleading No, no, no... Please...** **  
  
**

"What?" MJ yells in outrage. "Are you May Parker?" May looks at MJ but the girl is looking at Tony, who was looking at her out of the corner of his glasses, clearly intimidated.

"No…" Tony mumbles, feeling bad for breathing near the teen. Natasha smiles at the girl.

"Then what the hell are you doing talking to Peter like that?" MJ asks the man. Tony looks down, apologizing with his body.

**  
** **Tony extends his hand, asking him to hand over the suit.** **  
** **  
** **No, he was nothing without the suit, it was all he had. Peter feels tears well up, he feels like Sponge-Bob in that one episode where Squidward made him go as long as he could without crying, so he wells up with tears like a balloon.** **  
  
**

"Look what you did! He's crying!" Ned yells at the billionaire. How dare he make his friend cry, only sad movies and animals were allowed to do that.

Rhodey looks at Tony in disappointment. "Tony." Tony panics at the lack of nickname. "He idolises you. Besides, did you even know the whole story?"

Bruce pipes in, "He was fighting a whole group of people with alien weapons on a ferry of, what, over one hundred civilians. He didn't have any training other than experience and is a teenager."

Tony knows he fucked up.

"His opponent could fly and he had webs. His opponent had a weapon that shot alien beams which could cut steel and he had webs and wit." Bucky joins in, solidifying the shit Tony was in.

**  
** **Tony gets all wise and tells him he shouldn't have a suit if he was nothing without it. Tony scolds himself for sounding like his dad.** **  
**

**  
** **Peter tries to extend his time with his suit by telling Tony he didn't have any other clothes.**

"He needs his suit, he's too poor to have clothes." Flash tries to help.**  
** **  
** **Tony nods, he can sort that out. **

"This is where I got my new pajamas." Peter tells Ned.

**Peter, wearing pink pajamas with little Hello Kitty faces decorated over it and an oversized NYC shirt,**

"Look at that pathetic ball of teenage angst!" A student shouts at Tony, finger aiming at the screen. "I blame you!" 

Peter is offended, only Ned, MJ, and May can call him a pathetic ball of teenage angst. 

**He walks down the hallway of the apartment. He knocks on a door, which May answers, wearing well fitting clothes unlike her nephew.** **  
** **  
** **Peter whispers a greeting.** **  
** **  
** **May storms inside, angry at him but also worried. Peter shuffles towards May then stands behind her. Five police stations. Then she called five of his friends.**

Sam snorts, "You're dead." 

"In his defense, he was busy saving a boat." Wanda tries to save Peter.

"He was outside the boat, he could have watched and talked to me." May shuts Wanda down, who is unable to continue with her defense of Peter. Peter almost whimpers when May looks back at him.

May takes a deep breath, trying to calm down, but now that she knows who he is, what he does, the worry she felt back then is back and increased twice-fold. She also now knows why he smelt like a sewer. She laughs, the sound choked. She rubs her face. "You didn't call me back." She tries to joke, push down her worry. 

Peter smiles, a guilty one. "Sorry, I was busy smelling like a sewer." His joke helps, just barely, to ease the tension that grew with each passing second of silence before May's attempt to deflect her issue with all that happened.

May completely ignores her earlier decision of this not being the place to deal with this stuff.

Her voice is sad when she rants: "I didn't know where you were, you skipped out of detention and no one knew where you were. For all I know you could have been kidnapped. Not to mention all the people I called: five police stations," 

Everyone's eyes widen. Bruce turns to Peter, impressed by his aunt. "Five of your friends. You didn't answer any of my calls…" She slaps her knee, body buzzing uncomfortably with energy, the sound barely heard in the room. "I understand why you didn't answer my call but… I was so worried." 

He was busy trying to stop a weapons deal, the weapons of which were alien. Something _ could have _ gone wrong. But maybe he could have texted her instead? Although, 'Sorry, can't talk right now, call you later.' would far from ease her worries, since she didn't know he was Spider-Man then. It was a situation where no one would be helped. Maybe if he had told her he was Spider-Man she wouldn't be so worried and wouldn't have called so many people. 

She sighs. All this is in the past, she knows he is Spider-Man, they agreed that instead of ignoring her calls he would text 'Sorry, can't talk right now, call you later.' or some variant. She has no energy to continue and just decides to end it with, "It's in the past, we've already dealt with this." 

Peter nods and they both go back to watching the movie.

**Peter tries to reassure her, he was fine! Physically, not emotionally fine though.** **  
**"Were you really?" MJ raises an eyebrow at him.

"Of course not."**  
** **May had called Ned's mother, who said that Peter left early. Peter tells May to relax, he was fine, he was alive. **

**May quietens and faces Peter, she orders him to cut the bullshit. She knows he left detention, she knows he left the hotel room in Washington. "I know you sneak out of this house every night. That’s not fine, Peter, you have to tell me what’s going on." It's just the two of them. **

**A beat lies between them, then Peter's eyes light up with tears. He tells her he lost the Internship. May is surprised, what could he have done? What happened?**

**  
** **He screwed up, he believed he could work hard enough and Tony could… Peter sits down, May comes over to him and wraps her arms around him, she strokes her hands through his hair. She whispers in his ears, it was okay. **

Steve turns to face Tony, he looks tired and disappointed. He didn't need words, his expression enough to convey his emotions. This kid just wanted to be like his hero.

**Peter apologises for making her worry, eyes reddening and stinging.** **  
** **  
** **"You know I’m not trying to ruin your life. I used to sneak out too." May's nose twitches, then dips down to sniff Peter's hair. She recoils, and tells him to go to the bathroom and wash himself, he smells like a dumpster.**

Ned laughs. "Shut up." Peter tells Ned in embarrassment. His face blushes, red blooming on his cheeks like flowers.

**  
** **"Peter, you’re a good kid and you’re a smart kid. So just try to keep your head straight, okay?" Principal Morita tells the teen.**

"Did he smell like trash?" A student asks their principal.

Morita is silent as he contemplates telling the teen, he smelled like Axe body spray, way too much, so yes. "Yeah, he smelled like way too much Axe body spray."

Peter was embarrassed but at least he didn't smell like the dumpster next to his apartment building.**  
** **  
** **Peter nods, he'll try.** **  
** **  
** **Principal Morita nods, then dismisses him.** **  
** **  
** **Peter leaves his principal’s office. Ned, who was waiting for him, bombards him with questions. Was he expelled? Does he have to go to the school on 46th with the crossbow-weilding principal?** **  
  
**

"The what?" Clint asks. "What is the school called? I need to meet this guy."

"Clint you don't need to meet every person who's an archer." Natasha tells the man.

"Yes I do!" Clint yells, he plays distraught, pointing a finger at Natasha.

**  
** **Peter was pretty sure that was a myth, but no, he's here to stay. Ned is very relieved. The two walk down the corridor..** **  
** **  
** **Peter rests his head on his desk in detention. MJ gets his attention, he turns his head to find her holding a sketch of him with a sad look on his caricatures face. **

"You're a good artist." Natasha compliments MJ with a nod, her expression holds appreciation.

MJ smiles, "Thank you."

**Peter, now in Spanish class, raises his hand. Wrapped around his hand is a pen. The teacher calls on him, and he answers the unspoken question in Spanish. The Spanish teacher thanks him.** **  
  
**

"Ah, Spider-Man, so cultured, we stan."**  
** **  
** **Peter and Ned were finishing up the Lego Death Star in a room. Once done, Ned gives Peter a Palpatine character, which is placed on the top of the orb. Ned and Peter smile towards each other then do their handshake.**

Peter and Ned smile as they remember their pride at finishing the Death Star. 

"You should glue the pieces so it doesn't break if you drop it." MJ recommends, turning her head to them as she speaks.

Peter tilts his head with a frown, "Why didn't we think of this before?" 

"Small brain." Ned says with a nod. Peter agrees and nods with him.**  
** **  
** **Peter is walking in a hallway then stops when he sees Liz, he greets his crush with a blush.** **  
** **  
** **Liz smiles and greets him.** **  
** **  
** **Peter makes small talk, informing her that he thought she had calculus. Liz says she did, but she was busy with Homecoming preparations.**

**Peter apologises for what he did during the Decathlon championship.**

"If you weren't Spider-Man, and you were present, you would have died because you and Liz wouldn't have been able to get out in time. And if Spider-Man was a different person, you would have died while Liz was saved by him." Mr. Harrington voices. Peter purses his lips in thought as he thinks over what his teacher said, he wasn't wrong. 

"Have you thought this over?" Bucky asks the teacher.

"Many times." Mr. Harrington sounds depressed, and he probably is. Peter and the rest of the students taught by him have many theories on why he is depressed, one of them being that his wife took everything in the divorce. Him being married wasn't confirmed by the man himself but they are all convinced he was at one point.

Principal Morita pats his shoulder sympathetically, a sad look on his face. All the teachers that were present during the 2012 invasion get melancholic looks on their faces as they remember the losses.

**  
** **Liz waves off his apology, Decathlon was no longer her top priority. **

**Peter tells her tentatively that what he did was not fine, since he liked her. Liz is blunt when she states that she knew about his feelings. Peter is thoroughly shocked. **

**According to her and everyone who ever knew him, he was terrible at keeping secrets.** **  
  
**

"Well now we know that is not true." Charles says. He had never expected him to be Spider-Man, they all thought he was a mere twig.**  
** **  
** **They look at each other awkwardly. **

**Peter ducks out by saying he has class, he tells her he would like to hang out with her, but he has detention for the rest of eternity. "I guess you already have a date to homecoming."** **  
  
**

**Liz corrects that guess, she has been so busy that she never got around to it.** **  
  
**

**Peter, starstruck, asks if she wants to go out with him. Liz smiles, and agrees.** **  
** **  
** **Peter keeps his excitement mostly contained as they make their way to their destinations.** **  
  
**

"Aw, so cute." Tony chuckled, unable to not be fazed by Peter's puppy-like awkwardness and excitement.

**  
** **Peter, now in his apartment, slides into the kitchen with nervousness on his face. " May, I need your help."** **  
  
**

"I just looked up suits to wear to prom." Flash says, a bit jealous that Peter got help from his aunt.

**Peter - wearing a button-up shirt and a black tie, his shoes polished - shakes his head in front of a mirror. May hands a corsage to him, he smiles as he takes it.**

"You polished your shoes?" Liz lets out a small giggle, grinning. 

"I wanted to look my best." Peter shrugs, smiling with her.

"It was homecoming." A student says with suprise in their voice. They just wore a button up and jeans. 

"It was important!"

**Peter wrinkles his nose at the scent of the perfume he sprayed. **

**A video of a tutorial on how to tie a Windsor knot is playing on a computer. Peter twirls around to show May his passable Windsor knot, his shirt collar a bit messed.** **  
  
**

"Your collar is fucked." Charles informs Peter. 

"It was for fashion." Peter lies.

"Well then your fashion is horrible." Charles replies, joking.

"And yours isn't?" Peter fires back, smiling at their banter.

**  
** **Peter, decked out in his suit, is being taught how to dance. ** **  
** **  
** **May’s car pulls to a stop in front of Liz’s house. May and Peter do a run-down of their plan. Once done, Peter exits Mays car and leans down to the window, "Love you."** **  
** **  
** "Love you too." May replies back. **  
** **  
** **Peter comes up to the door, feet padding lightly on the rock below his feet. The night is quiet. Peter is nervous as he rings the door, the light rose corsage in hand. He waits with an anxious expression. **

**The door opens, Toomes on the other side. Peter’s smile fades and he is turned to the stone beneath his feet. Toomes grins at him. ** **  
  
**

"Oh shit!" Sam covers his mouth. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IM NOT DEAD :) HOPE YOU ENJOYED YOU PIGEONS

**Author's Note:**

> my updating schedule is weird as hell.  
when i finish a chapter, i dont immediately post it, i move onto the next one and start that. once i finish it, i post the first one, and then move on to the third one and once that chapter is finished, i post the second chapter. the cycle continues.


End file.
